Undeceptions with John Dickson

175. Literary Bible

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +1000

The Oxford English Dictionary describes the Bible as a “library,” not a single work.

But this library has been the most sold book in the world for millennia!

So should we call this ultimate best-seller “literature”?

There are many ways to read the Bible. But reading it as literature may help us see something easily missed: the Bible isn’t just a collection of texts any more than a symphony is just a collection of notes.

The literary approach asks a simple question: how might the Bible’s story work on us?

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - CLICK HERE

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains my wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

174. God's Image

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +1000

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.

This seems obvious to us today, but many people throughout history didn’t believe in these ideals.

Many would wonder how it could be that every human being, regardless of capacity or usefulness, could be considered equally valuable.

Truth be told, it's hard to find the logic behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights anywhere in historical literature … apart from the Bible.

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - CLICK HERE

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains my wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

173. Good Friday

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +1100

It’s hard to get a clear picture of the historical Jesus without projecting cultural tropes onto Him.

Jesus - perhaps more than anyone in history - is often co-opted to fit either personal or political agendas.

So this Easter, we’re trying to untangle the cultural Jesus from the real historical Jesus - by zeroing in on his famous last few days.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative and a point of contact for church pastors interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actorS today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

172. Reading Classics

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 05:10:00 +1100

There’s a certain collection of Greek and Roman writings - from roughly 800 BC to AD 200 - which, apart from the Bible, has shaped the Western world more than any other intellectual tradition.

Today, we call them the Classics.

Many are familiar with the names behind these ancient texts: Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Livy … the list goes on.

But just because these works have a legacy doesn’t mean that people today actually like them.

For starters, they’re hard work. Mark Twain once described a Classic as “something that everybody wants to have read, and nobody wants to read”.

Others dislike the very concept of the Classics because they privilege the writings of (presumably) white men over other rich, non-Western traditions.

But like it or not, the Classics still matter in their own right today - especially if you’re interested in Christianity.

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - click here

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative and a point of contact for church pastors interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

First Hymn US / UK Release

Undeceptions Ltd — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +1100

The First Hymn is coming to the big screens on both sides of the Atlantic!

Find tickets here.

171. Without God

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +1100

The cultural hangovers of Christianity are well attested.

Recently, people who were once describing themselves as ‘New Atheists’ have gone as far as to call themselves ‘Cultural Christians’, due to the prevalence of Christian thought in modern ethics.

But what if the great dream of the New Atheists eventually succeeded?

What would a world where God was actually dead look like?

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - click here.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative and a point of contact for church pastors interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actor today was Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

170. Evolution Revolution?

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +1100

Since Charles Darwin’s 1859 book On the Origin of Species, evolution has been considered by many to be the final nail in the coffin of religion.

Because evolution is supposedly random - or indeed, blind - the argument follows that there is no design.

But recently, a quiet revolution has been raging among the top tier of evolutionary scientists.

The apparent randomness of evolution has come into question, and some experts now suggest there may be patterns, agency, and even intention behind it all.

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - click here.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative and a point of contact for church pastors interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actor today was Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

169. Against Coercion

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 05:45:00 +1100

A popular myth is that when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, he forced everyone else to embrace the faith - or else face deadly consequences.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

It was under Constantine that the very modern-sounding ideas of freedom of religion and “justice for all” were first instituted.

These were revolutionary ideals, and they came from a very smart, learned Christian in the Emperor's inner circle.

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - https://undeceptions.com/podcast/against-coercion/

(00:00) - - One of history's great persuaders
(06:17) - - Persecution and the Crisis of the Third Century
(09:52) - - Christianity and Neoplatonism
(17:44) - - Lactantius: The Christian Cicero
(31:10) - - Lactantius and Constantine
(39:26) - - Constantine and religious tolerance
(48:06) - - Arguing Christian ethics from pagan philosophy
(51:41) - - Freedom of religion and Thomas Jefferson
(56:24) - - Lactantius and justice
(01:07:14) - - Five Minute Jesus
(01:11:43) - - Lactantius' legacy

CREDITS
Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative and a point of contact for church pastors interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

168. Virtue / Vice

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +1100

In pop culture, we often enjoy watching - or reading - vice and virtue play out, with the former often far more exciting than the latter.

But what about real life? Do we still find vice “sizzling” (as one writer described it), and virtue stale?

At the heart of this lies a much deeper question: What good is there in pursuing the good?

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES: https://undeceptions.com/podcast/virtue-vice/

(00:08) - - Is virtue boring?
(05:18) - - What is virtue?
(11:14) - - What's valuable about the Middle Ages?
(15:23) - - Aristotle and the virtues
(18:10) - - Vice vs. Virtue
(30:42) - - The root of all evil
(34:38) - - The root of all good
(41:56) - - Rapid Fire Round: Virtue/Vice pairs
(49:58) - - Cultivating virtue
(58:59) - - Why pursue Christian virtue?
(01:02:40) - - Five Minute Jesus

CREDITS
Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Peter Kozushko is our North American representative, a contact point for church pastors who are interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out

REWIND: The Reformation

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:45:00 +1100

The Reformation remains a pivotal moment not just for the church, but for global history.

It permanently split the church, triggered wars, created new city-states, and even led, in the opinion of many experts, to the Enlightenment, Science, and the secularisation of the West.

When it came to covering the topic on Undeceptions, there was so much to talk about that we needed two episodes just to scratch the surface.

In this Rewind, we’re revisiting some highlights of those episodes.

SINGLE: Concert Hymn

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 05:45:00 +1100

On November 2, 2024, Chris Tomlin performed the world premiere of The First Hymn at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Ben Fielding joined him onstage that night to help gift this 1800-year-old song back to the world.

In this special, shorter episode, you get a front row seat to a fireside chat with Chris as he introduces the new First Hymn to the world, for the first time.

SINGLE: Christmas Peace

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 05:45:00 +1100

We attempt to make sense of the silly season, to explain why there really is “more to life”, and why the traditional Christmas story still holds the answers.

(00:00) - - Unwanted Christmas cards
(04:41) - - Diagnosing our festive illness
(08:49) - - Happiness or peace?
(10:35) - - Jesus the umpire
(13:10) - - The Prince of Peace
(18:55) - - Christmas and the Gulag Archipelago
(22:56) - - Christmas is good enough without Jesus, right?
(30:39) - - Jesus turns his face towards us

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer and researcher.

Sophie Hawkshaw is on socials and membership.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were the Undeceptions Team - wishing you a happy Christmas!

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

167. Nicene Creed

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 05:45:00 +1100

It’s probably the most significant of all church history’s debates: Was Jesus fully human, fully divine, or a hybrid of some sort?

1700 years ago, bishops from across the Christian world gathered in the city of Nicaea to settle this once and for all.

The outcome was three paragraphs which went on to represent the core of Christianity, and spell out who Jesus is - and who he isn’t.

(00:00) - - Jesus: Man or something else?
(08:44) - - Why did the Creed happen?
(12:19) - - Constantine's influence
(17:18) - - The key players at the council
(31:13) - - The Arian controversy
(43:30) - - The Trinity
(01:00:34) - - Five Minute Jesus
(01:05:08) - - Faith and the Creed
(01:08:04) - - Why does the Creed matter?

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer and researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

166. Jesus Proof?

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 05:45:00 +1100

The first-century historian Flavius Josephus is the oldest source we have for the historical Jesus outside of the Bible.

His 90-word paragraph about Jesus - where he calls Jesus “the Christ”, and says Jesus “appeared to them [the disciples] alive again on the third day", spending a third day restored to life - has sparked centuries of debate.

Most experts think this paragraph has an authentic core, but has been embellished by a later Christian scribe.

But new scholarly evidence has emerged that might turn our understanding of Josephus - and what he wrote about Jesus - on its head.

(00:00) - - 90 Words
(10:39) - - Flavius Josephus
(14:20) - - Traitor or pragmatist?
(23:37) - - Josephus and James
(27:50) - - Testamonium Flavianum
(43:11) - - "Would Josephus really write that?"
(59:28) - - Josephus' networks
(01:12:26) - - What did Josephus really say about Jesus?
(01:17:27) - - What did Josephus really think about Jesus?
(01:19:34) - - Rethinking history

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actor today was Yannick Lawry.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

165. Question Answer XV

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 05:45:00 +1100

Why don’t Christians still follow the Laws of the Old Testament? Why did God create humans if so many are apparently destined for Hell? Is the ‘Golden Rule’ actually a Christian idea? John answers all these - and more - for our Season XV Q&A!

(00:00) - - Intro
(05:12) - - Why don't Christians still follow the Old Testament Law?
(14:49) - - Deep reading for non-readers
(19:41) - - Are Christians allowed to practise Old Testament laments post-Jesus?
(23:31) - - Why would God create a species destined for Hell?
(34:10) - - Why does the modern church look so different compared to the first-century church?
(42:32) - - Why did Joseph and Mary have to go to Bethlehem?
(53:40) - - The Golden Rule

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne, and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is the online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

164. After Christendom

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:07:18 +1100

Christianity no longer has the cultural sway it once held. But there’s always been a long tradition of Christians being flexible in engaging their culture—whether in ancient Rome, Viking Scandinavia, or modern America. So what does a ‘relevant’ Christianity look like in the 21st century?

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer and researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors for this episode were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

REWIND: Post Christian

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:34:50 +1100

Back in 2020, John caught up with author and journalist Greg Sheridan to talk about Christianity’s struggles in both Australia, and the global West more broadly. However, Greg wasn’t so glum on the future of the faith in a post-Christian world. Ahead of an upcoming episode on how the gospel applies to a post-Christian world, we thought now was the time to look back at what Greg had to say.

163. Divine Comedy

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +1100

In his Divine Comedy, Dante isn’t claiming to offer us a vision of what hell and heaven are actually like.

It might be set in the afterlife, but it’s really about how we live life here and now.

Even if you’ve never read one line of the epic poem, you’ve been influenced by The Divine Comedy.

It’s time we learned more about one of Western literature’s greatest works … and how it might just change our lives.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer and researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actor today was Yannick Lawry.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception's episode possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

162. Persecution Complex

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 05:45:00 +1100

Some claim Christian persecution is on the rise, while others find the idea of a modern persecution implausible. So, what’s the truth? It’s complex …

(00:00) - - John Dickson's persecution complex
(08:56) - - The myth of persecution
(13:24) - - The first Christian persecutions
(21:29) - - The third-century persecutions
(33:53) - - The Emperor Diocletian comes to power
(40:00) - - The Great Persecution
(49:32) - - The persecutions end
(56:55) - - Haroon's story
(01:06:38) - - Smash and squeeze persecution
(01:19:18) - - Five Minute Jesus

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer and researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actor today was Yannick Lawry.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

161. Jane Austen

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 05:45:00 +1100

Jane Austen’s words and books are well known. But what do we know of Jane herself - what she was like, and what she believed? What did she think of society and class, ethics, literature, romance, and faith?

(00:00) - - Jane behind the text
(05:51) - - Jane's world
(10:35) - - Jane the novelist
(19:31) - - The author and the characters
(34:07) - - Romance, satire, or something else?
(41:18) - - Jane's 'undeceptions'
(45:19) - - Jane and the church
(54:35) - - Ethics and virtues
(59:32) - - Five Minute Jesus
(01:04:16) - - Silence on slavery
(01:10:11) - - Jane's legacy

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

160. Deep Learning

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 05:45:00 +1000

Christianity is sometimes branded as anti-intellectual, and its followers labelled unteachable. But in an increasingly divided age, the church - with its rich history of learning - might be able to help the world recover what it means to have a teachable spirit … and to know who to learn from.

(00:00) - - How we learn
(04:17) - - Teachability
(10:44) - - Humility in learning
(16:00) - - Is faith a block to thinking critically?
(20:58) - - Combating fear with knowledge
(28:19) - - Learning from strangers
(32:53) - - Learning from the dead
(47:18) - - Learning from our enemies
(57:25) - - Five Minute Jesus
(01:04:48) - - Why learn from Christians?

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actor for this episode was Suzanne Ellis.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

159. African Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 05:45:00 +1000

African Christianity is almost as old as Christianity itself. Many of the early church's theological giants came from Africa, and today, Christianity is exploding across the continent. In this episode, we look at Jesus through African eyes.

(00:09) - - The Tortoise and the Hare: A different perspective
(08:15) - - Why look at Jesus through African eyes?
(11:26) - - Africa in the Bible
(15:26) - - Diversity in Christianity
(18:19) - - Hermeneutics - African style!
(23:30) - - The African church
(32:07) - - Syncretism
(38:09) - - Scripture through different lenses
(45:00) - - Five Minute Jesus
(54:49) - - Hannah's prayer
(01:00:57) - - Can we see Jesus however we want?

158. Faith Factor

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +1000

As the West undergoes a ‘de-churching,’ some are starting to wonder about the unintended consequences of a society with fewer believers.

After all, some of history’s greatest humanitarians all had one thing in common: a Christian faith.

(00:00) - - Intro
(00:00) - Chapter 2
(04:32) - - The power of faith communities
(08:21) - - Faith and politics
(15:20) - - Navigating tragedy in a faith community
(18:11) - - The Charleston shooting
(26:03) - - Measuring the 'good life'
(35:59) - - The great de-churching
(43:51) - - The happiness 'miracle drug'
(46:51) - - Five Minute Jesus
(51:10) - - Why join the faith?

REWIND: Mental Health

Undeceptions Ltd — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 13:16:08 +1000

Season 15 of Undeceptions is coming really soon! And our latest REWIND will help you brush up on some of the issues we’ll be discussing in our first full episode of next season.

There’s a growing body of research – authoritative, real-life, peer-reviewed research – that reports a significant benefit to wellbeing if you are religious. And not just religious, but part of a faith community.

REWIND: Decoding Dreams

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 11:57:38 +1000

Are our dreams full of messages and warnings?
John was sceptical, but for most of human history, that’s been the common view. In this Undeceptions REWIND, we take a closer look.

If you like what you hear, listen to the episode in full: Episode 105 'Decoding Dreams'.

157. Why Believe?

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 05:45:00 +1000

The 18th-century philosopher David Hume famously predicted that, as the world grew more rational and scientific, people would stop having supernatural encounters.

But that’s not what has played out.

We might live in a secular age, but we continue to have seemingly divine experiences.

Lots of people now describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious”, but taking that next step - that leap of faith - into a formal belief system might actually be more rational than not.

(00:00) - - Intro
(00:09) - - Modern miracles
(05:14) - - Ross Douthat: Columnist and podcaster
(06:28) - - The Decadent Society
(11:29) - - Secular regrets
(18:51) - - The Logos of creation
(37:41) - - The Pathos of near-death experiences
(44:07) - - Buff Dickson's near-death experience
(49:34) - - More miracles
(57:49) - - Join a religion - any religion!
(01:09:03) - - The three problems with religion
(01:17:20) - - Why believe in Jesus?

CREDITS
Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today was Yannick Lawry.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

156. Question Answer XIV

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 05:45:00 +1000

Why does the church meet on a Sunday? How far is too far when it comes to self-defence, biblically speaking? Is it possible that Hell is temporary?

John tackles these questions and more in this, our season XIV Q&A!

155. Good Pope

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 05:45:00 +1000

The world’s attention has recently been on the Vatican, and the election of the new Pope Leo XIV.

But what’s the history behind the office of the Bishop of Rome? What makes a good pope?

By looking at the extraordinary career of John Dickson’s favourite pontiff, we attempt to answer those questions.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John Dickson's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

(00:00) - Chapter 1
(01:08) - - Intro
(07:19) - - Where did the papacy come from?
(11:18) - - The Roman Empire is falling
(16:20) - - Gregory's early life
(23:55) - - Constantinople: The heart of the ancient world
(29:20) - - Gregory becomes pope
(33:01) - - A reluctant pontiff
(44:18) - - A job description of an ancient pope
(49:47) - - Was Gregory drunk on power?
(51:08) - - The Pastoral Rule
(59:00) - - Five Minute Jesus
(01:04:57) - - Humility and leadership
(01:08:00) - - John Dickson's favourite pope

REWIND: Emotional Intelligence

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 May 2025 10:30:30 +1000

Some think we might not be too far away from Artificial Intelligence actually having feelings. If it does happen, what will it mean? Might it mean we humans are, in the end, just machines? We look back at that question - and more - in this Undeceptions Rewind!

If you like what you hear, listen to the episode in full: Episode 71 'Emotional Intelligence'.

154. Boy Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 12 May 2025 05:45:00 +1000

The Gospels tell us about Jesus’ adult life, with scant references to his childhood.

We can catch glimpses of the younger Jesus' life, but there’s so much we don’t know.

But if we move beyond the Bible, we can learn about the world the younger Jesus lived in.

Growing up a refugee, in a land under foreign occupation, and a region full of militia groups, it’s worth asking: How did the turbulent background of the boy Jesus affect His message … and the whole of Christianity?

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is the Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

153. The Chemists

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 May 2025 05:45:00 +1000

According to the data, chemistry is the scientific discipline with the highest number of ”theists”.

Perhaps it’s not that surprising: Chemistry grew out of alchemy, a mysterious science that attempted to uncover the secrets of nature, with goals some would consider supernatural.

Modern chemists are also working to uncover the secrets of nature.

For some, seeing just how ordered the world is has led them to wonder whether there might be more going on behind the scenes than mere chemistry.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is the Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

152. God Laments

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 05:00:00 +1000

Like it or not, life will let us down. We all face disappointment.

Despite this, people spend their entire lives trying to avoid and outrun disappointment.

But the Bible offers a different solution.

It gives us the tools to feel and express disappointment. Tools to grieve well. Tools to lament.

But it doesn’t stop there.

In the Bible, we also find a God who sits with us in our grief and shares our disappointment.

We find a God who laments.

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is the Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

151. Mary Magdalene

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 05:45:00 +1000

Mary Magdalene has played many roles throughout history.

She’s been a prostitute, a temptation, Jesus’ wife, Jesus’ lover, a cave-dwelling mystic, a devoted follower, a revolutionary, and a penitent.

The supposed sinner-turned-saint comes to us in a multiplicity of earthly, perhaps even scandalous, portraits that surprise and inspire.

So what can we know about this woman for sure?

CREDITS

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is the Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Editing by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

150. Jesus' Trials

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 05:45:00 +1000

This week, leading up to Easter, we’re looking at the most famous trial of all time: the trial of Jesus. It’s a courtroom drama like no other, and its outcome changed everything.

But what do we actually know about the trial and conviction of Jesus? Was it fair? Was it real?

149. Our Hymn

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 05:00:00 +1000

When John Dickson convinced top Christian songwriters Ben Fielding and Chris Tomlin to have a go at transforming an 1800-year-old hymn into a tune for our times, they felt the weight of responsibility.

This is part two of our mini-series on how the song 'The First Hymn' came to life, with a full documentary soon to follow, which will track the hymn's journey from the deserts of Egypt to the middle of a sold-out stadium arena in the heart of America in the 21st century.

This episode takes you behind the scenes: how Ben Fielding and Chris Tomlin resurrected The First Hymn and made it ours.

(00:00) - - Intro
(05:21) - - Ben Fielding joins The First Hymn Project
(08:21) - - Creating something modern from something ancient
(13:21) - - The songwriting process
(16:15) - - Chris Tomlin joins The First Hymn Project
(22:30) - - Collaboration
(25:58) - - Tomlin and Fielding exchange musical ideas
(31:22) - - John hears 'The First Hymn' for the first time
(40:05) - - St Ephrem - one of the first hymn writers
(44:31) - - The history of worship music
(47:25) - Five-Minute Jesus
(52:40) - - Who was the original composer of The First Hymn?
(55:46) - - 'The First Hymn' for a secular world
(59:23) - - Bringing the hymn to life in an arena

Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley.

Alasdair Belling is a writer and researcher.

Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian.

Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant.

Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant.

Edited by Richard Hamwi.

Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love.

A big thank you to Michael Wilder at Wheaton College, and Tony Payne for his arrangement of the original First Hymn, and the 50-person choir led by John Trotter that brought this work to life.

Special thanks to our series sponsor, Zondervan, for making this Undeception possible.

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

148. The Anthropologists

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:45:00 +1100

Welcome to season XIV of Undeceptions!

Anthropology has a reputation for being the most “godless” of all the sciences.

The so-called Father of Anthropology, Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, abandoned his faith as an anthropologist, declaring religion was “animalistic”.

But religion hasn’t gone away - and many anthropologists are now realising there might be something to belief after all …

(00:00) - - Coffee and anthropology
(09:08) - - What is anthropology?
(14:25) - - Edward Tylor, the 'Father of Anthropology'
(19:28) - - Why is anthropology so godless?
(21:25) - - James Frazer
(34:40) - - E.E. Evans Pritchard
(41:57) - - Mary Douglas
(50:09) - - How Christine became a Christian anthropologist
(53:45) - - What is the "good life"?
(55:37) - - Victor and Edith Turner
(01:00:05) - - Cultural relativism
(01:03:47) - - Five-Minute Jesus
(01:10:40) - - Good God, good anthropology

REWIND: Jesus Philosopher

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 05:00:00 +1100

The cliche: ‘faith’ is the antithesis of knowledge, of wisdom and therefore “Christian philosophy” is an oxymoron, right? For this Undeceptions rewind, we speak to two Christian philosophers who explain why that’s not the case. Available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

If you like what you hear, listen to the episode in full: Episode 57 'Jesus Philosopher'.

REWIND: Danger - Proselytising

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 05:00:00 +1100

Why are Christians such god-botherers? Is it possible to share your belief system with someone who doesn’t accept it without being a jerk? In this Undeceptions rewind, we revisit a conversation about why Christians are so committed to sharing their faith with others - and why, if done right, it can be life changing.

If you like what you hear, listen to the episode in full: Episode 33 'Danger: Proselytising'.

Introducing Small Wonders season 4

Undeceptions Ltd — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 14:02:12 +1100

Words can change lives – whether on paper, on screen, or spoken down a phone line.

A library has an abundance of words – and an abundance of opportunities to change a life.

After a long break, Laurel Moffatt returns with season 4 of Small Wonders!

Undeceptions is pleased to introduce our listeners to this podcast in our network. Each episode of Small Wonders offers a brief but piercing look into a topic. The clarity the desert brings. Hurricanes and hard relationships. Finding reason in the middle of a ruin.

These quiet but profound observations about life uncovers lessons learned. Lessons from broken and beautiful things that are polished to perfection and set in rich audio landscapes for your consideration.

Subscribe to Small Wonders wherever you get your podcasts.

147. On Hell

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 05:00:00 +1100

Hell is one of the most difficult parts of Christian belief - but of all the characters in the Bible, no one comes close to using the word "Hell" as much as Jesus does.

So, what did he mean, how is it plausible, and what does it matter?

REWIND: Kingdom Come

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 05:45:00 +1100

As we gear up for a special episode on the difficult topic of Hell, we first bring you this Undeceptions Rewind looking at what the Bible says about Heaven. This rewind is from episode 64 'Kingdom Come'

146. Question Answer XIII

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 05:45:00 +1100

Is Christianity an offshoot of an ancient fertility cult? Why do the Gospels only talk about Jesus' genealogy in connection to Joseph? Is there a place for Christian patriotism?

John answers all these and more in our Season XIII Q&A!

(00:00) - - Intro
(04:16) - - Missionaries
(12:02) - - Anglicanism
(16:06) - - Resurrection science
(25:07) - - Intellectuals who don't convert
(31:06) - - Jesus' genealogies
(35:04) - - Christian fertility cult
(43:52) - - Biblical patriotism
(53:24) - - Just war

145. Second Act

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 05:00:00 +1100

The Acts of the Apostles is the epic sequel to Luke's Gospel.

It follows the dramatic events immediately after the resurrection of Jesus, and follows how the first Christians - led by perhaps the most unlikely person - took the news of the Messiah to the edges of the Roman Empire - and beyond.

(00:10) - - A Biblical sequel
(04:50) - - The genre of Acts
(10:33) - - Luke
(21:36) - - Gallio
(27:28) - - A Roman World
(32:59) - - The first evangelists
(37:26) - - Acts 17
(47:56) - - Five Minute Jesus
(50:29) - - The true myth
(59:41) - - How did Christianity spread?
(01:07:12) - - Imperial faith
(01:12:44) - - The end of Acts
(01:17:38) - - The meaning of it all

144. Into Wine

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 05:45:00 +1100

If we’re talking only about liquids you drink—because the water in the Bible is washed in, crossed over, and even walked on once—wine is no.1.

Wine appears more than 200 times in the Bible. And almost all of them are positive references—not critiques.

Christianity has a long, rich history with wine. But oftentimes, we’ve made it much more complicated and, at times, harmful.

(00:00) - Chapter 1
(02:36) - - Wine in the Bible
(04:52) - - Meeting Gisela
(09:16) - - Different drinking cultures
(13:32) - - Alcohol in America
(17:54) - - Wine in the Old Testament
(25:04) - - Jesus and the wedding of Cana
(28:58) - - 5 Minute Jesus
(36:47) - - Early Christianity and wine
(42:25) - - Monks, nuns, and booze
(50:02) - - When to stop drinking
(52:49) - - Drinking as a sin
(58:45) - - Holy tipsiness
(01:02:54) - - Alcoholism
(01:05:58) - - The Godliness of wine

143. Virgin Mary

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 05:00:00 +1100

There's just something about the Virgin Mary.

She stirs up big feelings - she has for millennia.

Some have perhaps given her more prominence than she would feel comfortable with.

Others have hacked down her statues in reforming zeal.

Others never think about her, except when they come across a nativity scene in a shopping mall (and even that’s becoming a rarity).

So, it’s time we met Mary properly this Christmas.

(06:10) - - Mary in the New Testament
(08:50) - - Daily life for Mary
(13:46) - - The conception of Jesus
(18:42) - - Science vs. the Virgin Birth
(24:54) - - The Incarnation
(32:24) - - Was Mary always a virgin?
(42:40) - - Mary as mother
(45:09) - - The Magnificat
(51:07) - - Mary the prophet
(53:41) - - Mary, after the Bible
(54:52) - - The Assumption
(01:00:19) - - Can Mary hear our prayers?
(01:07:25) - - Have we sidelined Mary?
(01:11:10) - - Mary for the modern church
(01:13:58) - - Christianity and sexism

142. First Hymn

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 05:00:00 +1100

In the 3rd century, in the Ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, a group of Christians composed a song of praise set to the pagan music of the time.

Now, 1800 years later, John Dickson is working with two of the world's best songwriters to bring this lost song - this First Hymn - back to life.

Along the way, they make some incredible discoveries about early church music, shedding light on what the earliest Christians believed.

This is the first in a three-part podcast series on The First Hymn Project - taking its name from the forthcoming Undeceptions documentary, to be released at Easter 2025.

(00:10) - - Singing the First Hymn
(06:31) - - How the project began
(09:10) - - Music in the ancient world
(16:20) - - Christian music in the ancient world
(20:22) - - Egyptian Christianity
(24:02) - - The Oxyrhynchus discovery
(29:24) - - The music of the First Hymn
(37:19) - - The message of the First Hymn
(45:29) - - Hymns throughout the New Testament
(52:03) - - 5 Minute Jesus
(58:03) - - The purpose of hymns
(01:00:00) - - The First Hymn performed by the Wheaton Choir
(01:01:34) - - Connecting Christians through history
(01:02:52) - - Chris Tomlin, Ben Fielding, and the First Hymn

141. Bible Genres

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 05:45:00 +1100

With 66 different books composed across literally thousands of years, it's fair to say the Bible is a complex read. But it doesn't have to be. The key to understanding the Bible is understanding the different literary genres.

140. Disenchanted Age

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 05:00:00 +1100

The great project of the Enlightenment was to bring reason to the forefront.

No more would humans be held back by superstitions: the power of the mind was all that was needed for advancement.

Three centuries on though, and some people are beginning to think the pendulum has swung too far.

Celebrated journalist and public intellectual Stan Grant joined John onstage in Sydney for a live recording of Undeceptions to discuss this new disenchanted age.

(02:19) - - Introduction: Everything we wished for is here, and that's a problem
(07:55) - - Stan Grant arrives
(08:56) - - The Voice to Parliament
(14:38) - - Stan on St Augustine
(16:43) - - Stan's early life
(19:48) - - Beginning a career in journalism
(33:06) - - What makes you 'Australian'?
(36:25) - - Deconstructing the Enlightenment
(43:13) - - Truth-telling
(44:56) - - Stan's theological journey
(53:28) - - Reflections of suffering
(59:46) - - 5 Minute Jesus
(01:03:47) - - Hasn't Christianity done terrible damage to Indigenous cultures?

139. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 05:45:00 +1100

A new movie has been released this week about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was killed by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to kill Hitler.

Bonhoeffer's fame has ballooned into a kind of mythology that has seen people of all stripes "claim" him as their own. But our guest for this episode says that if we only think of him as a “hero” for our cause, we may miss important pieces of Bonhoeffer’s complex life and thinking.

So, who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer and why does he still matter?

(04:47) - - Bonhoeffer's Germany
(13:13) - - The Nazi Church
(22:59) - - Bonhoeffer's career begins
(32:04) - - Bonhoeffer begins to speak out
(41:48) - - Bonhoeffer joins a resistence
(48:23) - - The plot to kill Hitler
(54:36) - - Bonhoeffer's ethical theory: how he might have justified killing Hitler
(01:01:54) - - Imprisoned by the Nazis
(01:04:06) - - Bonhoeffer is executed
(01:08:44) - - What we get wrong about Bonhoeffer
(01:11:56) - - Jesus: the man for others

SINGLE: Environmental Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 05:45:00 +1100

Sam Allberry was involved in environmental activism when he became a Christian - a development that his activist friends saw as bad news.

After all, why would a follower of a religion that looks forward to the coming of a new Earth be concerned with the state of the current world?

For Sam though, becoming a Christian led him to a very different conclusion.

SINGLE: 39 Books

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 06:00:00 +1100

The Old Testament is sacred not just to the Christian but also to the Jewish religion. Its 39 books cover thousands of years with an array of literary genres including poetry, history, creation myth, apocalyptic, and song.

It can be confusing and overwhelming - but luckily, John happens to work in the same building as a leading expert on it all who gives us a quick rundown in this special Single.

REWIND: Global Christianity

Undeceptions Ltd — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 11:34:43 +1100

The 21st century has seen—and will continue to see—the rise of Christianity in the ‘Global South’, with surging conversion numbers in Asia and Africa. That’s according to Gina Zurlo, a leading authority on Christian demographics, and our guest on episode 75, ‘Global Christianity’. According to Gina, while the Western world is grappling with secularism, a new spiritual awakening of sorts is taking hold in the world’s two most populous nations, China and India.

This is our next Undeceptions Rewind, where we resurface some of the best bits of our older episodes that might have been mostly forgotten (but hopefully not misunderstood!) In this episode, we feature snippets of both Episode 17 'Hindu Priest', and Episode 75 'Global Christianity'.

REWIND: Christian Revolution

Undeceptions Ltd — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 05:00:00 +1100

We interviewed Tom Holland, historian and co-host of the extraordinarily popular podcast The Rest is History, back in 2021 for episode 45, Christian Revolution.

At the time Tom wouldn’t have called himself a Christian (and we won't speak for him now), but he was adamant that not only is Christianity good, but our very sense of what good is comes from Christianity.

Check out our first Undeceptions Rewind, where we resurface some of the best bits of our older episodes that might have been mostly forgotten (but hopefully not misunderstood!)

138. Van Gogh

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Artists have used their tools not just to capture beauty and transcendence, but also the essence of what it means to be human.

In this episode, we learn from history's greatest artists about loss, hope, the ugly, and the sublime.

What lessons can we take from these broken artists? What might their observations about the world tell us about God?

(04:39) - - Creations and experiences
(12:55) - - Albert Bierstadat
(16:09) - - Artemisia Gentileschi
(22:46) - - Vincent Van Gogh
(33:01) - - The Yellow House and the Ear episode
(42:20) - - Van Gogh and faith
(50:06) - - Five Minute Jesus
(54:54) - - Transcendence

137. Bible Unlocked

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Is there a "right" way to read The Bible?

Millennia of Ink has been split trying to answer that question.

Surely if The Bible is God's word it should be easier to understand, right?

Well, some experts think there is a right way to read scripture. What we need is a key to unlock The Bible for us.

(00:48) - - The Rossetta Stone
(05:02) - - Reading theologically
(07:43) - - What are hermeneutics?
(13:28) - - The three laws of hermeneutical motion
(17:16) - - Reading cultures
(19:16) - - Frames of reference
(23:34) - - Our spiritual baggage
(26:32) - - Reading The Bible above our own interests
(30:29) - - Hermeneutics in The Enlightenment
(33:33) - - Five Minute Jesus
(39:37) - - The Transfiguration
(47:35) - - The key to unlocking The Bible
(54:35) - - Where to start when reading The Bible
(59:07) - - Why is Kevin struck by The Bible?

136. Question Answer XII

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 05:45:00 +1000

Why did God make the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Can Christians smoke weed? Why does God allow natural disasters to happen? John Dickson tackles your questions in one of our best Q&A episodes yet!

135. Intelligible Universe

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Famed Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once (well, several times actually) claimed Christianity was irreconcilable with the science of the Universe.

But there's plenty of scholars who beg to differ.

Recorded live in Brisbane at the State Library of Queensland.

(01:08) - Show begins
(05:42) - Introducing Peter Harrison
(08:41) - Did we used to have more Christian scientists?
(22:58) - Introducing Sarah Sweet and Luke Barnes
(24:51) - Is there room for the supernatural in science?
(37:53) - 5 Minute Jesus
(49:47) - Do we live in a finely tuned universe?
(57:18) - What we've learned - and unlearnt - from science recently
(01:03:47) - How far could science take us?

134. History Wars

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Is history under threat?

Increasingly, the modern, individualistic global West is coming to see history as a discipline that's irrelevant, harmful, and divisive.

Some are worried that we're becoming increasingly disconnected from a broader story.

Can the past help us navigate our modern world? Or is it better if we let it fade into a "dark age"?

(00:11) - What do you call a collective of historians?
(05:40) - Why does history matter?
(08:12) - What makes a good historian?
(10:49) - Historical culture wars
(14:32) - An Ahistoric Age
(16:44) - Is history irrelevant?
(18:59) - Historical ignorance
(24:46) - Recovering facts from framing
(30:11) - Looking back but moving forward
(35:09) - Priests of History
(37:24) - Sarah encounters rational faith
(45:52) - The perks of Biblical meditation
(48:30) - Make tradition cool again
(49:20) - 5 Minute Jesus
(57:52) - Why take history seriously in 2024?
(01:02:04) - The good guys of history's bad Empires

133. Why Trust?

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Trust is everywhere. It underpins our institutions, our health, and our relationships. However, experts are worried that the world is facing a trust crisis. If so much of our lives depend on it, what could happen if trust starts to break?

In this episode, we spend some time talking about institutional church abuse. Check the time codes below if it would be helpful to skip past this section.

39:15 - Section begins
42:23 - Regular interview resumes

132. True Crime

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 05:45:00 +1000

True Crime is one of the most popular genres of film, podcasting, literature, and TV worldwide.

We are obsessed with tales of the morbid, dark, and most importantly, true.

As one cold-case detective believes, we can't get enough true crime because of what it teaches us about our human nature.

But that same detective found that these lessons on humanity could also be found in - what was for him - the unlikeliest place: The Bible.

131. English Language

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 05:44:00 +1000

Half a billion people alive today speak English as their first language. But how you speak English depends on where you live, where you come from, and how it was taught to you. It's truly a universal language. So - what's its history? If this is the language that has done the most to spread Christianity (as some claim), how have its quirks influenced our understanding of the Bible?

130. On Augustine

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 05:00:00 +1000

There's a reason our guests have mentioned Augustine more than any other theologian or philosopher. St Augustine of Hippo was an intellectual giant whose shadow still hangs over Christianity and the Western philosophical tradition. But not everyone loves him. To some, he's a misogynistic pessimist whose work we're better off without. So - what's the truth? It's finally time for Undeceptions to take a deep dive into Augustine.

SINGLE: On Persuasion

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 05:45:00 +1000

Reasoning can take us to almost any conclusion we want. We ask "Can I believe?" if we want to believe, or "Must I believe?" if we don't. We can persuade ourselves easily. Only through humility do we stand a chance of approaching something more in line with the truth.

SINGLE: Jazz Church

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 05:45:00 +1000

Jazz is a genre of music steeped in tradition, culture, and most importantly, improvisation. According to some, the church can learn a few lessons from this wonderful art form.

129. American Evangelical

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 May 2024 05:45:00 +1000

Evangelicalism has always been a politically loaded word - but especially since the turn of the century.

This is especially true of American evangelicalism.

But if we strip away all the nationalistic and political weight, what is evangelicalism? What makes the American strain of evangelicalism particularly unique? How does it compare to other types of evangelicalism?

128. Question Answer XI

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 May 2024 05:00:00 +1000

John faces down some of our most diverse - and controversial - questions yet. What's the deal with circumcision? Why does John hate the term apologetics so much? Is Director Mark sick of John picking on him all the time?

127. Gospel Contradictions

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 May 2024 05:00:00 +1000

If Christianity is one big conspiracy, we wouldn't find so many mistakes and inconsistencies in the Gospels! Surely if the faith was one big lie, the Gospels would have some uniformity to them, united to deceive readers.

Well, that's one side of the argument. Others might point to the Gospel contradictions as proof the entire thing is made up.

So, why are there contradictions in the Gospels? Does this undermine their credibility?

126. Jesus' Biography

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 May 2024 05:00:00 +1000

You can make a pretty good case that the Gospels are the four most influential - and controversial - books of all time. But who were the authors? How do we know who wrote them? And why was it that these four books were selected, and not others?

SINGLE: Bondi Junction

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +1000

In this special Undeceptions Single, Stan Grant shares his reflections on God and suffering in the wake of the Bondi Junction attacks that occurred on April 13 in Sydney, Australia.

125. Christianity's Comeback

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +1000

From the mid-1990s to the 2010s, 'New Atheism' dominated the intellectual space. A virulent, attacking form of godless evangelism, it saw people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens top best-seller lists, and draw huge crowds to their lectures. Justin Brierley was in the middle of it all as New Atheism rose - and then collapsed. In its wake, Justin says he is seeing a new openness to theism - but where that might lead is anyone's guess.

124. The Theologians

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Theology: It's a dry term that conjures images of old academics writing dusty books that will never be read.

However, this couldn't be further from the truth. The study of theology is the study of who we are as humans, and how we can make sense of both God and the complexities of the world.

So, who are the theologians we should all know about?

123. True Science

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +1000

Science is a relatively new term. Chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy - all have only existed as defined, singular fields for the last century and a half. Before that was the mysterious world of natural philosophy - an ancient tradition that saw the natural world as one, combined entity. Our guest, Professor Alister McGrath, argues that this old way is a path to a new kind of appreciation of the world and each other.

122. Political Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +1100

The Apostle Paul writes that Christians must battle against "powers and principalities". But what are they? What does the Bible say about political power?

Special thanks to our season sponsor Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Check out more of N.T. Wright's work - including his writing, and Bible studies - here.

A transcript of this episode is available here. Please note, that due to software not all exchanges between guests will be completely accurate.

For the full episode shownotes, head to undeceptions.com

121. The Resurrection

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 05:45:00 +1100

There are sophisticated, academic arguments for the resurrection of Jesus. It’s not just a matter of accepting on the basis of faith. The modern industry of Christian apologetics doesn't get us much closer to the historical reality of Jesus' resurrection - but there are solid, investigative ways of examining this seemingly miraculous event.

SINGLE: Holy Virginity

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 06:00:00 +1100

The pursuit of celibacy is seen as strange, taboo, and repressive in modern society. But that's what David Bennett, a gay man, decided, after becoming a Christian during a night out in Sydney's gay quarter.

Since then, he's become a scholar of "holy virginity", and the queerness of his Lord, Jesus. This is his story.

SINGLE: Cancel Culture

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 05:45:00 +1100

At the heart of cancel culture is a desire to combat injustice, and expose flaws within society. This is a good thing ... but as recent history has shown, there is a lack of forgiveness at the heart of the movement. This is where Christianity can help.

120. French Atheism

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 05:45:00 +1100

For the final episode of season X, we're taking a deep dive into the global centre of Atheism - France. How did this once-Christian nation become such a lightning rod for the belief that there is no God? And how are the "French" ways of thinking drawing some people back to belief in Christianity?

119. Question Answer X

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 05:45:00 +1100

Aliens, more Old Testament violence, and ... The Devil.

Our tenth question-and-answer episode was one of the toughest yet for John.

Make sure you head to our website to ask a question yourself if you want to pick Johns brain on air!

118. 12 Objects

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 05:45:00 +1100

The story of Christianity is full of wonderful highs and terrible lows. It's truly an epic - and it takes an epic round-the-world adventure to tell its story properly. Thankfully, we have a man who's done just that. This is the story of Christianity, from the crucifixion to the modern day, told through 12 key objects.

117. Jewish Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 05:45:00 +1100

Christianity wasn't always its own religion - the first Christians were, in fact, Jewish ... because Jesus was Jewish! How do we then understand the Jewishness of Jesus? How was his movement different to other Jewish movements?

116. Holy Angels

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 05:45:00 +1100

Angels are everywhere in history. From winged guardians in Sumerian mythology to the messengers of the Gods in Ancient Greece, to new-age guardian angels, humanity has always been fascinated by these celestial beings. But what does the Bible say about them?

Our guest on this episode is Graham A. Cole. He was dean emeritus and professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, before his retirement. He formerly worked as the dean of Ridley College in Melbourne. His book Against the Darkness: The Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons is out now.

For extended show notes and transcripts, head to our website.

115. On Tolkien

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 05:45:00 +1100

J.R.R. Tolkien needs no introduction. The Oxford Philology Professor who would go on to create the world of Middle Earth is rightly hailed as one of the greatest writers of all time. In this episode, we unpack the inspiration behind his work, meet the people who helped him along the way, and examine the faith that drove him to create the world of The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and more.

114. Medieval Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 05:00:00 +1100

The Middle Ages saw an explosion of literature, art, and thought around the personhood of Jesus. What can we learn from these centuries-old understandings of the central figure of the Bible?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.
Hosted by John Dickson
Produced by Kaley Payne
Directed by Mark Hadley
Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi
Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw
Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling
Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuinness

113. The Puritans

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 05:00:00 +1100

The Puritans: Everything wrong with a Christian society, or much misunderstood forefathers of innovation and social justice?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

112. Cultural Christianity

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 09:49:40 +1100

This episode, we're visiting some of the ancient Christians to see that they were actually real human beings, with flaws and hang ups … and virtues … that we might recognise in ourselves today.

111. Growing Older

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +1100

Our world spends billions of dollars a year on anti-ageing, but nothing will change the simple fact that we are all growing older. Is it time we re-thought our approach to the relentless march of time, and the challenges that come with it?

110. Violent Faith

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 05:45:00 +1100

"I love Jesus but I hate the God of the Old Testament. He's just so violent."

You might have heard this line before or thought it yourself.

In this episode, we're tackling this issue head-on.

We're taking a deep dive into the violence of the Bible - especially the Old Testament - and asking how is it that this God of judgement and war can be one and the same with the peace-loving Jesus Christ.

109. Many Gods - Live from Melbourne

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 07:49:26 +1100

In this live episode, recorded at the Melbourne leg of the Undeceptions Conference, we ask: What did the first Christians mean when they proclaimed Jesus as God? How did this teacher, healer, and religious revolutionary come to be seen as divine?

108. The Multiverse

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 05:45:00 +1100

The multiverse has become a popular cinema trope, but more and more astrophysicists are taking it seriously. Could there really be parallel universes? If so, does this mean there might be parallel Gods? What does this all mean for Christianity - if it's even real at all?

107. She Believes

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 08:09:33 +1100

Is the Bible bad news for women? Is Jesus misogynistic?

Or - as some claim - were the teachings of Jesus in fact the basis of a revolutionary change in the way women were seen and treated across the ancient world, as Christianity spread?

Live from the Sydney leg of the Undeceptions conference comes this special episode, with John Dickson, Rebecca McLaughlin, and an audience of 600 Undeceivers taking a look at Jesus, through the eyes of the women who walked alongside Him.

106. Deconstructing Faith

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 09:25:21 +1100

To kick off season 10 of Undeceptions, we're exploring the new "threat" to the Christian faith - deconstruction.

Deconstruction has become something of a buzzword in recent years, with many well-known Christians deconstructing their beliefs, and sometimes abandoning Christianity altogether. So what's going on? Can the claims of the Bible be trusted if they seemingly fall apart when we ask questions?

Head to undeceptions.com for information on how to become an Undeceiver, get expanded show notes, and find out more about our wonderful guests!

Single: If Jesus really did rise from the dead, then it would confirm everything

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 12:00:00 +1000

If Jesus was just a teacher who lived and died in first-century Palestine, Christianity would be a waste of time.

But what if the miraculous were somehow true? What if this man really did rise from the dead, after being publicly executed on a Roman cross outside the walls of Jerusalem?

In the final episode of our 'singles' series, John Dickson brings you the words of his friend Ben Shaw, who invites sceptical listeners to think about the implications of Christianity's most startling claim of all: that Jesus rose from the dead.

Single: A compelling answer to the question "What's wrong with the world?"

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +1000

Most of us can agree that the world is a pretty messed up place.

But what’s the problem with humanity? What’s wrong with the world? What’s causing all this crime, suffering, destruction and chaos?

John Dickson brings you the words of his dear friend Ben Shaw, who on this special episode challenges us to see that what’s required to make meaningful change is a totally new heart, or, as Jesus taught, to be born again: to become a new person.

Single: Christianity is about life to the full

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +1000

Many believe Christianity is all about following rules and not having any fun.

However, this is a huge misunderstanding; Christianity is actually about living life to the fullest.

John Dickson brings you part two of his friend Ben Shaw's work about reconsidering the Christian faith, pointing out that for years, millions of people have misheard the beautiful lyrics of Christianity.

Single: It's worth thinking through what life's all about

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +1000

Lots of people assume that Christianity is a nice story for kids or a niche hobby for weirdos.

John Dickson brings you the words of his dear friend Ben Shaw, who invites sceptical readers to think again about the million-dollar question: what is the meaning of this thing we call life?

105. Decoding Dreams

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Throughout history, humans have looked for hidden meanings behind dreams. But in this modern, scientific age, surely we don't believe dreams could hold spiritual significance anymore? God wouldn't speak to people through a medium as unreliable as dreams ... right?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

104. Question Answer IX

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Is there a place for pessimism in the Christian life? Is Halloween evil? Does God have 'mothering' characteristics, too? Why won't there be marriage in heaven? Yes, it's this season's Q&A episode, and John is having a crack at a heap of listener questions.

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

103. Blind Faith

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +1000

If we can make sense of our faith, is it really faith at all, or just a projection of what we want? Soren Kierkegaard, one of the most celebrated philosophers of the 19th century, asked the same question. With the help of two experts, we'll untangle his "answers" and discover how to take a leap of faith.

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

102. Ancient Letters

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +1000

The Bible uses a very "human" way to communicate God's word: letter writing. But how do we know these letters - mostly written by the Apostle Paul - really are God's word? How could it be that the divine would speak through simple mail - and how can we trust it?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuinness

101. Keller's Legacy

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +1000

In memory of Timothy James Keller (1950-2023).

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

100. Saving Nature

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 May 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Is nature inherently valuable if there is no God? According to one scientist, without faith, that's an almost impossible question to answer. But if there is a design to it all? That changes everything - including how we should treat the natural world.

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

99. Overcoming Apathy

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 22 May 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Apathy has seeped into every part of society. We've become a "Seinfeldian culture"; alive to the trivial, and numb to the meaningful. How can we find ways to care more, and how might Christianity's history of grappling with apathy help us, whatever we believe?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

98. Dorothy L. Sayers

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 May 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Dorothy L. Sayers was much more than a celebrated detective novelist - she was a Christian playwright and author who brought the message of the Gospels to millions of people in everyday, easy-to-understand language. A true Undeceiver, it's high time we knew more about her.

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

97. The Apocalypse

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 08 May 2023 05:00:00 +1000

There aren’t many parts of the Bible that excite the imagination more than its thrilling climax in the book of Revelation. Amidst the imagery, fantasy and controversy, how do we sort truth from fiction?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

96. Medical Miracles

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 01 May 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Is there room for the supernatural and the advancing world of medicine? According to some scientists - absolutely!

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments/feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

95. With Beth

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 05:00:00 +1000

An hour with acclaimed speaker and church leader Beth Moore.

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

94. Venerable Bede

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Introducing The Venerable Bede: Father of English history and the most brilliant polymath you've never heard of.

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

93. The Crucifixion

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 12:49:47 +1000

Why did Jesus have to die? Why did it have to be such a violent death? And what on earth does the death of Jesus on a cross such a long time ago have to do with us today?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

92. The Reformation II

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 05:00:00 +1000

Is there still something to celebrate about the Reformation, or is it, as many claim, the root of Christian division and conflict?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

91. The Reformation I

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:55:41 +1100

The Reformation: one of the greatest ruptures in European history, a rupture that permanently split the church, triggered wars, created new city-states, and even led, in the opinion of many experts, to the Enlightenment, Science, and the secularization of the West.

It's such a big deal we’re going to take two whole episodes to examine it—and still only scratch the surface.

How did one man go from a pious local friar in an obscure backwater town to the leader of a global movement that ripped Christianity in two (and then three, then four, and ultimately thousands of Protestant denominations!).

And what is the real legacy of this thing we call The Reformation?

This season of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

Ahistoric Age

Undeceptions Ltd — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 05:00:00 +1100

"We know less than ever about history and are losing the ability to grapple with the ethical complexities of the past - the entwining of good and evil - in the same historical figure, or empire."

90. Jesus Quests

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 05:00:00 +1100

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Masterlectures. Get 50% off your first three month subscription with the code 'Undeceptions50'.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

89. Question Answer VIII

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 05:00:00 +1100

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Masterlectures. Get 50% off your first three month subscription with the code 'Undeceptions50'.

QUESTIONS

Why did Jesus come during the Ancient period? I get why Jesus came (to fulfill God’s promises and save the world etc.) but why the specific time period and place? Why didn’t Jesus come in say, the medieval era? Or the 1900s? Why was it ancient Rome?
In ‘The Flood’ episode, you talk of the story of the flood as a piece of ‘high art’ that should be understood as a retelling of stories that existed in the cultural climate. But would the ancient audience have thought like this or take it at face value as though they were real events that really happened?
Do you believe that Adam and Eve are historical figures?
In the episode called ‘Global Christianity’, you mention the missionary impulse in Judaism: in the NT book of Acts we meet people who are described as ‘God fearers’. How many ‘God fearers’ who weren’t Jewish were around in the first century? And what motivated them to worship the God of Israel?
Regarding the ‘Pro Life’ episode, suppose a pregnant mother in labor has a series of complications. If she births the baby, she’ll die. But if she doesn’t birth it soon, the baby will die. Would it be a sin, if you chose the mother to live, and the baby to die?
I teach school students who are blind or have low vision and some have a hard time understanding what their blindness means in regard to their relationship with God. I’m keen to know if you have a way to account for the descriptions of blindness in such a way that my students can hear the different passages and still see themselves as loved and valued by a good God, even if/when they are not healed, and despite the fact that some passages use blindness as a criticism. Can you help?
Why is the Catholic and Protestant bible different? What are those differences? Should Protestants read the books that are in the Catholic Bible too? What can Protestants learn from those books? How have those differences changed how Protestants and Catholics view the world?
I want to learn more about the Catholic faith and what happened before it became so ritualised. What was it like before the Catholic faith became the Catholic faith?
What’s the deal with burial vs Cremation – specifically around our renewed bodies that God will transform us into? Does cremation hinder this?
The typical Christian answer to the question “Where does evil come from?” is free will. I.e. God made Adam and Eve perfect, but gave them free will. They decided to turn away from God, and now there’s evil, sin and suffering in the world. But that argument doesn’t really make sense, because free will doesn’t necessarily entail evil. For example, God has free will, and he’s completely good. God could have made us with a good nature, and still given us free will (like what we’ll have in heaven). Based on this, it seems like God must have made evil. Or to phrase it another way, God seems to have made Adam and Eve with a propensity for evil, or made them too weak to cope with the moral choices he was giving them. If an inventor designs something and it malfunctions, it isn’t really fair for him to blame the thing he’s made for going wrong. We’d say that it’s his fault for not designing it properly. So how is God not responsible for our sin?
A friend follows Baháʼí religion and says there is essential worth of all religions is the unity of all people. They regard the major world religions as fundamentally unified in purpose. At the heart of their teaching is the goal of a unified world order that ensures the prosperity of all nations, creeds and classes. It all sounds nice, but how does it play out in reality, and how does it differ from Christianity?
I have been reading your book, Bullies and Saints and was struck by your Chapter on the Inquisition. I get it, that the French Revolution in comparison had more deaths and other sorts of sufferings. However when a Catholic friend said to a Jewish friend (in my presence) that the Spanish Inquisition wasn’t so bad, I wondered what the Jews thought of the whole issue? My Jewish friend just looked at him. Also what would be a helpful way to handle this issue when talking to people of other faiths, like Jewish and Muslim, who as you stated in your book were booted out of Spain?
I was reading a book by author and pastor Mark Clark who said Jesus would have dropped his ‘h’s, that he had a really distinctive accent, and that other people from Galilee dropped their ‘h’s and that the people from Jerusalem would have thought they were really uneducated because of that. Any other interesting things from Jesus that we might not know from the Bible that would help us connect with him as a man who walked the earth as well as our Lord and Jesus Christ our Saviour.

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Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

88. Beautiful Science

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 05:00:00 +1100

The more we learn about the world, the more we see how it operates under elegant laws. There is an order to the universe that betrays the randomness you so often hear about.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Masterlectures. Get 50% off your first three month subscription with the code 'Undeceptions50'.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

87. Old Christ

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 05:00:00 +1100

There’s no such thing as a “New Testament Christian”. While the popular scepticism about parts of the Old Testament is understandable, we're convinced by the arguments of our guest today: Christ isn’t just the hero of the New Testament … He is everywhere in the Old Testament.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Masterlectures. Get 50% off your first three month subscription with the code 'Undeceptions50'.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

86. First Noel (second time around)

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 05:00:00 +1100

‘Tis the podcast before Christmas, so we’re diving into the fairy lights and tinsel to uncover some of the myths of Christmas - things you might have thought were true but aren’t. And we’ll look at a few of the common challenges to the history of Christmas that aren’t as strong as our sceptical friends reckon.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Masterlectures. Get 50% off your first three month subscription with the code 'Undeceptions50'.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

85. Lewis' Narnia

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 05:00:00 +1100

You might think the Chronicles of Narnia are just for kids. But scholars have discovered some amazing historical, literary, and theological keys in the stories that Lewis never talked about openly, and that bind the 7 stories together in a way only Lewis could have imagined.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Masterlectures. Check out Delores Morris' course Believing Philosophy. Get 50% off your first three month subscription with the code 'Undeceptions50'.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

84. Byzantine Empire

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 06:04:03 +1100

The Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was famously fortified with an impenetrable three-wall network, which preserved it from foreign conquest for centuries. But the Byzantine Empire doesn’t have to be impenetrable to us, today.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book Five Views on Christ in the Old Testament, edited by Brian J. Tabb and Andrew M. King.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

83. Time Matters

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +1100

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book Bully Pulpit by Michael J. Kruger.

How we think about time, the value we give to the three parts of time (past, present, and future) really matters. And our special guest reckons it’s part of what makes for the good life.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston

Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

82. On Animals

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +1100

We’re talking all things animals in this episode, starting with why God would create a world that seems to embed animal suffering into the fabric of things. And we’ll get to some practical questions too: do animals go to heaven? Is it OK to keep pets? And, should we all, actually, be vegetarian?

81. Lewis' Oxford

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +1100

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's Master Lecture series by Russ Ramsey, Rembrandt is in the Wind. Click here to get 50% off your first 3 months subscription with the code UNDECEPTIONS50.

Since their publication between 1950 and 1956, the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis have sold more than 100-million copies in 47 languages.

And despite their dated references and sometimes controversial worldviews, they continue to sell over a million copies a year.

They’ve also inspired theatre performances, radio plays, television series, and three major films that earned a healthy one and a half billion US dollars.

So it’s understandable that many people know of C.S. Lewis only as a fantastically successful children’s author, unaware that he is also the author of a huge collection of books commending and defending the Christian faith, Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Screwtape Letters, and so on.

Narnia is wonderful. But it’s a pity people don’t know more about the man, his career, and his famous town–all of which form the backdrop for the incredible fantasy world he created for millions of readers.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Writer and researcher: Alasdair Belling

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

Really Old? Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +1100

From John Dickson: While we’re working hard on our next Season of Undeceptions, I’ve asked the Rev Dr George Athas to have a chat to you about how we can be sure our old stuff - artefacts we’ve found from thousands of years ago - is actually old. George is Director of Research, Old Testament and Hebrew at Moore Theological College in Sydney. We spoke to him at length for our super popular episode called ‘Between Testaments’, so go check that out if you haven’t heard it already. It’s one of my favourites. George has done a huge amount of research on the Tel Dan Inscription, a fragmentary stele that dates to the 9th Century BC. It’s considered the most important - and controversial - inscription found in Israel in recent years. And George wrote the first book about it. So, over to him.

In Christ single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 05:00:00 +1100

One of the surprises when we turn the pages of the New Testament is how little the word “Christian” actually comes up. Given this is the book for Christians you’d expect it to be littered with the words “Christian” and “Christianity.”

But the word “Christian” only comes three times, whereas the language of being “in Christ” comes up over 200 times. It’s pretty much everywhere.

80. Critical Theory

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 05:00:00 +1000

The basic aim of ‘critical theory’ is to make visible the hidden structures of a culture, so as to critique society and then, in the best forms of critical theory, bring about improvements. Our guest today reckons the Bible has its own way of exposing the flaws of our culture–and, of course, pointing to the Good. The Bible, in other words, has a critical theory of its own.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book Five Views of Christ in the Old Testament, edited by Brian J. Tabb and Andrew M. King.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston

Online Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

79. Question Answer VII

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +1000

It's our seasonal Q&A episode and there are actually quite a few curly questions about the future of the universe, heaven, as well as plenty of other questions about a bewildering range of topics, some of which push John to the edge of what he knows–perhaps beyond!

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for Everyone, Volume 1 - The Doctrine of the Word of God: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners and Pros, by Marty Folsom.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston

Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

78. Scientific Imagination

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +1000

It may just be that science is an imaginative, creative, and emotive enterprise, just as it is obviously a rational, mathematical, evidence-based discipline. Which, to John Dickson's mind - and that of our expert guest - makes perfect sense. After all, the Creator is an artist and logician in one!

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher Watkin.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston

Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

77. Bookish Religion?

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +1000

We take a closer look at 15 words that are often misunderstood, or sometimes forgotten. And my guest today reckons these words communicate the heart and soul of the New Testament, of the Christian faith, of God himself.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic’s new book Bright Hope for Tomorrow by Chris Davis.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston

Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

76. Against Euthanasia

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +1000

This episode, we’re laying out the best arguments for and against legalising euthanasia and asking: What view of the human person should a good society embody in its laws?

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book Seasons of Sorrow by Tim Challies.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.

Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.

Hosted by John Dickson

Produced by Kaley Payne

Directed by Mark Hadley

Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi

Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw

Administration by Lyndie Leviston

Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

75. Global Christianity

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +1000

The death of religion was the conventional wisdom in the social sciences during most of the twentieth century. Turns out, they were wrong. Religion is not dead. It’s still here. Actually, it’s growing.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets by John Goldingay.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.
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Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com: Letting the truth out.
Theme music: JS Bach's Cello Suites, Prelude, performed by the Undeceptions Band.
Hosted by John Dickson
Produced by Kaley Payne
Directed by Mark Hadley
Audio Editing by Richard Hamwi
Social Media by Sophie Hawkshaw
Administration by Lyndie Leviston
Librarian: Siobhan McGuiness

74. Medieval Science

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +1000

The period 500 to 1500 - the Middle Ages - was anything but dark. In fact, it was one of the most lively periods in world history.

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book The Beauty Chasers by Timothy Willard.

73. On Buddhism

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +1000

Buddhism probably takes the prize today for World’s Most Lovable Religion. But is this widespread appreciation of Buddhism matched by widespread understanding?

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book 15 New Testament Words of Life by Nijay Gupta.

72. The Flood

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +1000

This episode of Undeceptions is sponsored by Zondervan’s new book Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe by Gina Zurlo.

71. Emotional Intelligence

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +1000

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan Academic's book Bully Pulpit by Michael J. Kruger.

Ben's Song

Undeceptions Ltd — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 05:00:00 +1000

The song 'Christmas Time' was written by John's mate Ben Shaw, with some help from John himself. We recorded Ben’s beautiful guitar parts just 4 weeks before he died of cancer.

Ben was on this podcast a couple of times in his last months, so we hope regular listeners think of him as their friend, too.

He died a year ago today, June 17. And we’re releasing the song in his memory – it was one of his last big wishes that we take this song, which he and John had performed many times over the years but had never recorded, and rework it with a full band and release it. That’s what we’ve done.

You’ll hear the entire song at the end. In the meantime, we sat down with our long-time music producer Colin Benvenuto (and his guitar) and Ben’s wife Karen, a backing vocalist in the song, and we chatted about … well, Ben … and how the song came together.

If you want to see a little more, we’ve produced a video montage for the song over at undeceptions.com/christmastime.

70. The Artist

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 May 2022 05:00:00 +1000

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book The Beauty Chasers by Timothy Willard.

69. Trans Gender

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 May 2022 05:00:00 +1000

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Religious Freedom in a Secular Age by Michael F. Bird.

68. Question Answer VI

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 May 2022 05:00:00 +1000

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Typology-Understanding the Bible's Promise-Shaped Patterns: How Old Testament Expectations are Fulfilled in Christ by James M. Hamilton Jr.

67. On Suffering

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 May 2022 04:55:00 +1000

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Malestrom: How Jesus Dismantles Patriarchy and Redefines Manhood by Carolyn Custis James

66. The Vikings II

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 04:55:00 +1000

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book The Sexual Reformation by Aimee Byrd.

65. The Vikings I

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 04:55:00 +1000

We're launching our longboats on to the seas of myth and popular culture… and discovering over two in-depth episodes what we can actually say with some confidence about the Vikings - their origins, exploits, culture, religion and - perhaps the best-kept Viking secret - their eventual decision (and it was their decision!) to become Christians.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Four Views of Heaven edited by Michael Wittmer.

64. Kingdom Come

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 05:00:00 +1000

What happens beyond death is one of those areas—like the idea of a Rapture prior to a Second Coming—where myths have crept into popular Christian thought which have little connection either with the Bible or with what the church has taught throughout the centuries.

The modern myth is: When Christians die, their bodies decay once and for all, while their spirits (whatever they are) go eternally into God’s presence in heaven.

The Bible’s claim is: When Christians die, they rest safe in God’s presence, until they are bodily raised to life to enjoy forever a new creation.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Recovering Our Sanity: How the Fear of God Conquers the Fears that Divide Us by Michael Horton.

Introducing: Small Wonders with Laurel Moffatt

Undeceptions Ltd — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 05:00:00 +1000

The Joshua Tree National Park in California is a good starting place for Laurel Moffatt's reflection on our struggles to see the light.

The park is full of interesting characters as well as a compelling number of stars - most of which are invisible to the outside world. Because of the amount of artificial light we use each night, more than a third of people can no longer see the Milky Way.

But the brightness of the light in deep darkness can show us how faint, how small, how very weak and narrow our own attempts at lighting our own way are.

LINKS

Paul Bogard, The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light.
Emily Dickinson, “I saw no Way – The Heavens were stitched –” Fr633 (1863) J378
Fabio Falchi, et al. “The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness”, Science Advances, 10 Jun 2016, Vol 2, Issue 6

WHAT IS SMALL WONDERS?

The clarity the desert brings. Hurricanes and hard relationships. Finding reason in the middle of a ruin. Small Wonders are quiet but profound observations about life from Dr Laurel Moffatt. In each fifteen-minute episode, Laurel uncovers lessons learned from broken and beautiful things that are polished to perfection and set in rich audio landscapes for your consideration.

63. With Keller

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 04:55:00 +1000

Tim Keller is the founding pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church and the author of several New York times best-selling books.

It's also fair probably fair to say that he is something of a Christian prophet for our secularizing 21st century.

This is a chat with one of our world’s most trusted ‘undeceivers’. Whether you believe or doubt, we're sure what you’re about to hear will bring fresh clarity about the Christian faith in doubting times.

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book Good News of Our Limits by Sean McGever.

Become an Undeceiver

Undeceptions Ltd — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 09:51:55 +1100

This season, we’re launching Undeceptions Plus which offers exclusive bonus content to members - who we’re calling our ‘Undeceivers’. For a small monthly fee - just AU$5 a month - you can unlock uncut interviews, extra question and answer sessions, and peeks behind our creative process as we put the shows together. Don’t worry – all our regular episodes will remain free and available for everyone. But in becoming an Undeceiver, you’re really helping us to keep the show sustainable and thriving. We’d love to have you with us. It’s really easy, so head to undeceptions.com/plus for more.

62. Science Wars

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 04:56:00 +1100

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book Religious Freedom in a Secular Age by Michael F. Bird.

61. Emperor Constantine

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 05:00:00 +1100

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Rembrandt is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey.

For the full show notes for this episode head to Undeceptions.com.

No Coward single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 00:01:00 +1100

Greg Sheridan is one of Australia's most influential foreign affairs analysts, as well as an acclaimed author. In short, he's not afraid of sharing an opinion.

He and John Dickson take a stroll through his latest book, Christians: The urgent case for Jesus in our world, and take a close look at the key elements of the faith.

Greg bravely shares how he thinks the Christian faith makes perfect sense to the rational mind.

Transforming Tales single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:01:00 +1100

Undeceptions is proud to announce that the popular podcast, With All Due Respect, is joining the network as of today.

To mark the occasion hosts Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen have crafted a single about the power of storytelling to transform lives.

You can find out more about their awesome show over at The WADR Project website.

Life's Variations single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:01:00 +1100

It's our first season in the run down to Season 6 of Undeceptions, and John Dickson asks friend of the show Laurel Moffatt to share some uncommon wisdom earned from teaching her daughter music during the COVID lockdown.

Laurell tells us how listening to Bach's Goldberg Variations - the way they chop and change but still stay the same - has given her a new way of viewing life during a pandemic.

The Log In Our Eye

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this final episode of the Bullies And Saints super-series, John Dickson reflects on Jesus' instruction to His disciples to look at the log in their own eyes before reflecting on others' shortcomings and asks whether this might equally apply to those outside the church

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

The Not-So-Dark Ages

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this episode, John up-ends a four-hundred-year-old fallacy that has been promoted since the Enlightenment: the Christian faith is a brake on scientific and literary progress. The Dark Ages - were they really that dark?

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

Knights of Christ

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this edition, John Dickson introduces us to two characters that display all that’s been good and bad about the followers of Jesus - Ebolus the crossbowman and Bernard of Clairvaux.

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

Christian Jihad

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this edition, John investigates the accusation that Christianity is a faith that was propagated by the sword rather than peace. Are Christians guilty of their own jihad?

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

The Birth of Charity

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this episode, John Dickson gives us an insight into the invention of charity, and just how revolutionary the Christian call to love one another proved for the ancient world.

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

Good Losers

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this edition, John uncovers the character of the earliest Christians, how it contrasted with the world around them, and how ‘in tune’ it was with the beautiful melody that Jesus set them to sing.

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

Peter The Hermit

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson's Bullies and Saints is a super-podcast providing excerpts of the book by the same name - a no-holds-barred look at the best and worst of church history.

In this episode, John Dickson takes us to the Crusades and introduces one of the most infamous crusaders of all: Peter the Hermit, a fire and brimstone Christian if ever there was one.

Click here to buy a copy of Bullies and Saints, or here to own the entire audiobook.

And for even more on the history of Christianity, and how well the church is mirroring the message that Jesus handed on, head over to the Undeceptions website.

60. Resting Well

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 05:00:00 +1100

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book Ethics Beyond Rules, by Keith D Stanglin.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram
Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

59. The Refugee

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 05:00:00 +1100

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan’s new book ‘Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth’ by Thaddeus J Williams.

Visit undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram
Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

Christmas Star single

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:01:00 +1100

Dr. Chris Forbes brings his expertise in the Greco-Roman world to bear on why historians believe the story of the three magi and the star over a stable might actually be based in fact.

Join John Dickson as these two historical boffins discuss astrological formations, ancient king-makers and a reasonable explanation for an interstellar night light in Bethlehem.

58. Question Answer V

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 05:00:00 +1100

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Urban Apologetics by Eric Mason.

Visit the undeceptions.com for more content, including the full show notes for this episode.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram
Email the show with your comments / feedback: admin@undeceptions.com

57. Jesus Philosopher

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +1100

The cliche is: ‘faith’ is the antithesis of knowledge … of wisdom.

And therefore “Christian philosophy” is an oxymoron, right?

Our guests today, though are professional philosophers and they reckon that, while Christians could do with a healthy dose of philosophy, so could sceptics. We all need to think deeply about what we believe, and why we believe it.

And if you think – as atheists like Sam Harris and many others do – that scepticism or atheism doesn’t involve any mere ‘beliefs’, well, you probably especially need to think this stuff through.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan’s 10th Anniversary edition of Seven Days that Divide the World by John Lennox.

For the full show notes, go to undeceptions.com.

56. Paulos Apostolos

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +1100

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Believing Philosophy by Dolores G. Morris.

OUR GUESTS

Douglas J. Moo is a New Testament scholar who, after teaching for more than twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, has served as Blanchard Professor of New Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School since 2000. His latest book is A Theology of Paul and His Letters.

Lynn H. Cohick is an American New Testament scholar and author. Since January 2021 she has been Provost, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary.

For the full (and often rather extensive) show notes, head to Undeceptions.com.

55. Just War

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +1100

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Person of Interest: Why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible by J. Warner Wallace.

Meet Our Guests

Nigel Biggar: Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, & Public Life, University of Oxford.
Andrew Hastie: Australian Federal Member for Canning and Assistant Minister for Defence. Former Officer, Australian Defence Force.
Mike Bird was one of our 'phone a friend' guests for this episode. He wrote The Story of God commentary for the Book of Romans for Zondervan and is a lecturer at Ridley College.
Jarrod McKenna was another of our lovely 'phone a friend' guests for this episode. He is an advocate for non-violence direct action.

For our full show notes and links to everything we mention in this episode, go to undeceptions.com.

54. Between Testaments

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 04:55:00 +1100

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book Why is there suffering? by Bethany Sollereder.

Download the transcript for this episode here.

Meet our Guest
The Rev Dr George Athas

George is Director of Research and Lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Moore Theological College in Sydney.

Featured Music
Michael Levyis a composer for the lyre. His music is a blend of some original ancient melodies and some of his own creations. His arrangements for solo lyre are based on reconstructions of some of the incredibly rare, actual surviving written music of antiquity. We played two of these reconstructions in our episode, with permission: Ma Tovu and Kandel's Hora. You can find out more about Michael's work, and listen to more of his music at ancientlyre.com.

Yamma Ensemble is an Israeli world music group who have a beautiful love of the Hebrew language and ancient instruments. We played parts of their live recordings of Psalm 104 (see below) and also a track featuring the ancient Shofar, based on the Mi'mekomcha, a Jewish prayer. All music used with permission.

For our full show notes and links to everything we mention in this episode, go to undeceptions.com.

53. Outer Space

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +1100

Some would say that an ancient faith like Christianity won’t survive outer space -- especially as we explore further than we ever have before.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book 'The Theology of Paul and His Letters' by Douglas J Moo.

For the full show notes, with links to everything we mention in this episode, go to undeceptions.com.

52. On Friendship

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +1100

Download the transcript for this episode here.

COMPETITION!
We’re celebrating our 500,000th download this month - half a million! And so, with the help of our major sponsor, Zondervan, we are giving away a book pack of five of Zondervan’s newest titles. We’ll throw in a copy of my new book Bullies and Saints AND an Undeceptions T-Shirt.

To WIN, all you have to do is leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (what used to be called iTunes), take a pic of the review and send it to us. Producer Kaley will pick the best-written review on October 25 (and I mean ‘best-written’ not necessarily most glowing). So be quick, you’ve got two weeks!

LINKS

Meet our guests:
- Sam Allberry, author and pastor.
- Ronald Sharp, author of Norton Book of Friendship
Read Sam Allberry's book Seven Myths about Singleness and find his other books here.
Here are the links to all the studies we referenced in this episode:
More on Plutarch.
Read the Tu Fu poem, To Wei Pa, A Retired Scholar, translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Learn more about the Book of Proverbs, and read it for yourself.
Read more about the debate over anti-semitism in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, in this article from the Smithsonian Magazine.
Read about David and Jonathan's close friendship from the book of 1 Samuel.
Read more about Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep from Ancient Egypt in this New York Times article.
Further Evidence that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were Twins, Journal of Ancient Archaeology
Learn more about the friendship between King Richard I and King Philip II.
Here's The Guardian's article about whether Jesus was gay.
Read Ronald Sharp's article, Mateship, Friendship and National Identity for the Australian Book Review.
Never seen Crocodile Dundee? It's probably about time...
Learn more about CS Lewis' 'four loves'.
Listen to previous episodes of Undeceptions with John and his best mate, Ben Shaw (who died in June 2021 after a battle with cancer).

51. Chinese Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 04:55:00 +1100

Download the transcript for this episode here.

LINKS

Get to know our guest, Professor Xi Lian.
Read Professor Lian's book, Blood Letters: The untold story of Lin Zhao, a martyr in Mao's China.
You might also like to seek out Professor Lian's other relevant books Redeemed by Fire: The rise of popular Christianity in modern China and also The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907–1932.
Meet our other guest I'Ching Thomas.
Read I'Ching Thomas' book, Jesus The Path to Human Flourishing : The Gospel for the Cultural Chinese
Read more about Daoism (or Taoism).
Get a broader background on Chinese religion from National Geographic.
More on the All Souls celebrations around China.
Dig deeper into the idea of 'Actionless Action' or 'Wu Wei' here.
Read the Analects of Confucius.
Find out more about Christianity in communist China in this article from The Gospel Coalition.
Winfried Corduan's book Neighbouring Faiths is referenced by I'Ching Thomas about polytheism vs monotheism (amongst other things).
Read more about Christianity in China from this article from 2020 in The Economist.
And this from Time about the imprisonment of a pastor Wang Yi (who led one of China's most well-known underground churches).
Here's more about the 'sinicization of religion' in China from the Lausanne Movement.
Read this article from the New York Times about China's 12 core socialist values.
Christianity's growth in China is hard to predict, but Professor Fenggang Yang from Purdue University has given it a crack, estimating that China will become the largest Christian country in the world by 2030.

50. Good Life

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +1100

COMPETITION!

We’re celebrating our 500,000th download this month - half a million! And so, with the help of our major sponsor, Zondervan, we are giving away a book pack of five of Zondervan’s newest titles. We’ll throw in a copy of my new book Bullies and Saints AND an Undeceptions T-Shirt.

To WIN, all you have to do is leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (what used to be called iTunes), take a pic of the review and send it to Producer Kaley at kaley@undeceptions.com. We'll pick the best-written review on October 25 (and I mean ‘best-written’ not necessarily most glowing). So be quick, you’ve got two weeks!

LINKS

Read the CNN report about the happiest country in the world for 2021.
Watch the full report from VICE News on whether Finland is actually that happy. This one's from 2019 - Finland has been the happiest country in the world for four years running.
Read a little more from 20th Century philosopher Bertrand Russell on the conquest of happiness from Brain Pickings (one of those websites you'll get lost in ... see you next Tuesday).
Meet our guest, Miroslav Volf.
- Read more about one his courses at Yale, 'Christ and the Good Life' here.
- And check out the centre he helped set up, the Yale Centre of Faith and Culture
Watch this video chat between Volf and his teacher, Jürgen Moltmann (who John calls "one of the great theologians of the 20th Century)
Read Flourishing by Miroslav Volf.
Read this New York Times article, 'The other side of languishing is flourishing. Here's how to get there.'
Languishing, by the way, is the emotion that the NYT reckons may just be the dominant emotion of 2021. Good thing you've listened to this episode, then.
If you want to read more about Asceticism, go here.
Other Undeceptions episodes mentioned in this ep are:
- Everyday Sacred (Ep 47), where we talk to Andrew Wilson and Tish Harrison Warren about finding God in "stuff".
- Guilty Conscience (Ep 39), where we speak to Tyler VanderWeele towards the end about the health benefits of forgiveness.
- Mental Health (Ep 38), where we speak to Tyler VanderWeele on the impact of religious communities on mental health.
- Social Capital (Ep 5), where we to Andrew Leigh about the benefits of religious communities not just on individuals but society more generally.
More on Francis of Assisi here. Or read his writings for yourself, here.
The Michel Onfray quote, "Religions' glorification of a fictional beyond prevents full enjoyment of the real here below. They establish death on earth for the sake of eternity in heaven and seek to promote self hatred to the detriment of the body" is from The Atheist Manifesto.
More on Dionysus, here.
Meet our next guest, Tyler VanderWeele.
- Tyler heads up Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program.
- His latest book was published in 2021, called Measuring Well-Being
- You can find most of Tyler's research on religion, health and flourishing here.
For an introduction on Aristotle, the Oxford Very Short Introduction series is good.
Read (or re-read) Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

Outback Christ

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +1100

This Henry Lawson poem, though written in the Australian outback in the 19th Century, still captures what a lot of people see as wrong with Christianity and what they wish it was like.

Afghan Refugee

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 05:00:00 +1000

Shabnam Safa was just 15 years old when she arrived in Australia as a refugee. As a young child, her family had fled war-torn Afghanistan to a refugee camp on the border of Pakistan where she grew up listening to stories of the terror of life under the Taliban. She spoke to John Dickson about her distress about the Taliban retaking control of Afghanistan and her fears for her home country. As so many of us watch from our lounge rooms, is there anything we can actually do to help those fleeing danger?

Intersectional Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 05:00:00 +1000

Author and highly sought-after speaker Sam Allberry talks us through 'intersectionality' and ponders the wisdom and boundaries of this way of bestowing moral authority.

"Just as those who stand at an intersection can see in more directions than those who don't, so too - according to this thinking - those at the intersection of multiple minority and victim groups have more insight to bring to society."

Nine Eleven Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 00:01:00 +1000

Today is the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist strikes in the US that killed almost 3000 people and changed the world forever.

Our guest for this single, Hans Kunnen, was one of several Australians in New York that day and has told his story many times over the last 20 years. But what struck us about his story was not how close he was to the action, or how he described the flames, the smoke, the hurtling bodies.

It is how he talks about the kindness of a stranger - the hope amidst the chaos of what was the most traumatic day of his life.

The Terror Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 14:29:51 +1000

On the anniversary of the France's Reign of Terror, John asks where we got the idea that three centuries of the Spanish Inquisition represented the height of human cruelty.

In any objective history of human violence it would hardly rate a mention, especially when it stands alongside the terrors of the French Revolution.

49. Pro Life

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 04:00:00 +1000

** We’re talking about abortion in this episode, and occasionally we mention sexual abuse and violence. Nothing graphic, we promise. But some listeners may find what follows distressing. Be safe. **

We're weighing up the arguments of the Pro Choice and Pro Life movements. Perhaps we can convince you that the case against abortion - the pro-life case - isn’t as dumb and mean as it's often portrayed to be, and nor does it depend on religious dogma.

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book The Global Church: The First Eight Centuries by Donald Fairbairn.

LINKS

Read Judith Jarvis Johnson's groundbreaking article about abortion, where she offered the violinist thought experiment as a way to illustrate bodily autonomy: A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 1. (Autumn, 1971), pp 47-66.
Get to know our guest, Professor Margaret Somerville.
- Read Somerville's book that first introduced her to John, The Ethical Canary: Science, Society, and the Human Spirit
Say hi to our guest, Dr Emma Wood.
Here's some more info on Professor Michael Tooley, Emma mentions as we speak with her. He wrote a very influential book called Abortion and Infanticide in the 1980s, where he argues that an entity can't possess a right to life unless it has the capacity to desire its continued existence.
Here's the article called 'Reasons why women have induced abortions: a synthesis of findings from 14 countries', published in the journal, Contraception, in 2017.
And here are the statistics on numbers of abortions worldwide, from the Guttmacher Institute
Here's some more on Professor Peter Singer's argument in favour of abortion:
"When a woman has an abortion, the fetus is alive, and it is undoubtedly human – in the sense that it is a member of the species homo sapiens. It isn't a dog or a chimpanzee ... But mere membership of our species doesn't settle the moral issue of whether it is wrong to end a life. As long as the abortion is carried out at less than 20 weeks of gestation – as almost all abortions are – the brain of the fetus has not developed to the point of making consciousness possible." He goes on: "Admittedly, birth is in some ways an arbitrary place to draw the line at which killing the developing human life ceases to be permissible, and instead becomes murder ... A prematurely born infant may be less developed than a late-term fetus. But the criminal law needs clear dividing lines and, in normal circumstances, birth is the best we have."
Here's Don Marquis' article that we spend a lot of time on in the second half of this episode: "Why Abortion is Immoral", in the Journal of Philosophy vol.86, no.4 (April 1989), pages 183-202: "The claim that the primary wrong-making feature of a killing is the loss to the victim of the value of its future has obvious consequences for the ethics of abortion. The future of a standard fetus includes a set of experiences, projects, activities, and such which are identical with the futures of adult human beings and are identical with the futures of young children. Since the reason that is sufficient to explain why it is wrong to kill human beings after the time of birth is a reason that also applies to fetuses, it follows that abortion is prima facie seriously morally wrong."
Here's a link to the full New York Times podcast 'The Argument' episode called 'Why the Anti-Abortion Side Will Lose, Even if it Wins' (if you don't have a NYT subscription, just look it up on your podcast app - it was published on April 14, 2021.
Watch Paxton Smith's speech from her Texas high school graduation here.
Read this article in The Economist called 'Texas's new proposal shows why abortion law is a mess in America', re: the so-called Texan "heartbeat bill".
Here's more on the Mississippi case that will come before the Supreme Court and challenge Roe v Wade, from the New York Times.
Producer Kaley found this article really interesting while researching this episode: The epic political battle over the legacy of the suffragettes, in The Atlantic which explores why both sides of the abortion debate see themselves as inheritors of the early women's movement.
Read the paper by economists Janet L Yellen and George Akerlof called 'An analysis of out-of-wedlock childbearing in the United States', Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1996, which carried this quote (among lots of other interesting insights): “By making the birth of the child the physical choice of the mother, the sexual revolution has made marriage and child support a social choice of the father.”

48. Ask Anything IV

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 04:00:00 +1000

It's this season's Q&A episode, where listeners get a chance to ask John Dickson their burning questions.

This episode is sponsored by Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible by Michael F Bird, a new book published by Zondervan.

QUESTIONS

Is all “music” at its best good or beautiful and at worst simply neutral; or can some “music” be “bad”, “evil” or “ungodly”? (Check out our two episodes on music from Season 3: Creation's Music and Discordant Religion).
Are there dangers in pop music we might steer our children away from for example?
Regarding the 7 Deadly Sins: what's their origin and their accuracy in terms of Jesus' teaching and Christian living?
If I have a conversation with a person who is sceptical of Christianity about the issue of race, I know they're going to bring up times when God ordered the wiping out of a city or a whole race (like when Israel wiped out the Amalekites in the book of 1 Samuel) as evidence that the Bible is racist. What should I say? (Check out our last episode of Season 3, Racist Church)
Why were the Jews God's chosen people? According to a lot of Christian principles (at least the ones I was brought up with) people who were alive before Jesus but didn't know the Hebrew god would go to Hell for not knowing him. So, why did God choose the Jews? Why condemn the people who lived at the same time, but in other parts of the world i.e the Australian Indigenous peoples?
A listener comment that we made into a question: I thought that you gave the Black Lives Matter organisation a very soft run in this podcast. It is not anywhere close to a Christ-centred organisation. Their website, until recently, noted that they were seeking to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement” and “foster a queer affirming network” and “do the work to dismantle cisgender privilege”. Did you go too soft on this whole ‘Black Lives Matter’ thing on the Racist Church episode?
Andrew says he listened to that version of ‘Little Things’ by Ziggy Ramo and Paul Kelly, which tells the tragic story that Australia’s colonisation starts with the Pope’s ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ in 1493, which Captain Cook later used to claim Australia as ‘Terra Nullius’ - nobody’s land. He says he’s looked into the doctrine of discovery and it’s just terrible. Why did the church make such a decree?
What do you think about the idea of machines being “persons.” (Check out our two episodes on artificial intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and Homo Deus)
There seems to be a slew of so-called prophets coming out of the woodwork in the USA prophesying all sorts of messages especially about the political scene. What does the Bible say about this?
How does one explain the Egyptian culture and the God's that they believed in and the afterlife they believed in? Was there any part of the God that we worship today? Was he the same god then?
Could the God of the Jews be the God of other faiths? Could other Faiths be just interpreting the same God in different ways? I've heard stories of other cultures around the world who hadn't been exposed to Christianity having similar principles and creation stories to that of the Bible. Could God have been revealing himself to them?
I was listening recently to a podcast 'People I Mostly Admire' hosted by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt interviewing Magician Joshua Jay. They speculate whether Jesus' miracles were simply tricks and they claim tricksters at the time were doing exactly the same thing, obviously inferring Jesus was just kind of a trickster. I have never heard this suggestion before and I wondered if you could fact check it based on your study of Jesus' times.
Did the 100 Pages episode mention the talking donkey? How do you tackle weird and wacky thing in the Bible?
At the end of the Gospel of Mark, Mark describes how the women went away and said nothing to anyone. But other gospels say they went away and told people. What can we say about this contradiction in the Bible? (Check out our episode Bible Mistakes for more)
The podcast often proudly cites non-believing references. I value this approach but is there a weight behind all these people who know scripture so well but don't believe?

47. Everyday Sacred

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 04:00:00 +1000

Just when you imagine Christians are all so heavenly minded they’re of no earthly use … the Bible itself brings us back to the earth. That’s where the action is. In fact, the final great scene of the Bible doesn’t have us all floating up to heaven. It has heaven coming down to earth.

Down … to … earth. There’s a lot in that phrase.

As far as religions go, Christianity is arguably the most down-to-earth perspective you could imagine.

LINKS

Winnie The Pooh loves honey in the books and every movie he's in, but particularly the 2011 version we quoted from.
This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book, Becoming All Things by Michelle Ami Reyes
Meet our guests for this episode:
- Andrew Wilson, London pastor and author of a new book called God Of All Things: Rediscovering the Sacred in an Everyday World
- Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life
Read Psalm 19, which begins "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Read more about CS Lewis' "supposals" ... and check out The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe while you're at it.
Watch the heartwarming Old People's Home for Four Year Olds. This one's the Australian version.
Or, for a similar feeling, watch Ted Lasso on Apple TV. John Dickson called it "the best show since The West Wing" ... and that's high praise!
Read more from James K.A. Smith on cultural liturgies.
Read more about CS Lewis' conversion to Christianity.
More reading, this time on Wendell Berry from the New Yorker.

46. The Exodus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 04:00:00 +1000

The parting of the red sea is legendary today … and most people treat it as just that … legend.

Like many things in the Bible, the exodus from Egypt (recorded in the book Old Testament book of Exodus) is looked on with great scepticism by secular scholars - and some Christian scholars even.

It’s understandable.

The existence of Moses, mighty prophet and prince of Egypt. The ten plagues that devastated that ancient civilisation. The blood of the passover lamb protecting the houses of Israel from the plagues. And, of course, the deliverance of the people of Israel en mass from the slavery in Egypt.

They all lack direct historical evidence outside the Bible.

So it’s just made up, right?

Well, sort of … not really!

LINKS

This episode is sponsored by Zondervan Academic's new book ‘God of All Things’ by Andrew Wilson.
Meet our guest, James Hoffmeier, Professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern Archaeology at Trinity International University, Divinity School (Deerfield, IL).
Check out the new book Five Views on the Exodus: Historicity, Chronology and Theological Implications, which showcases (as it says on the packet) five different views on the Exodus, including Hoffmeier's.
Read Rick Watt's "gamechanger" book, Isaiah's New Exodus in Mark (the super expensive, textbook like one!)
Connect the dots between The Exodus and the Gospels with John Dickon's A Doubter's Guide to Jesus.

LISTEN

Bonus Five Minute Jesus for this episode, listen here.

45. Christian Revolution

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +1000

We all know Christianity thrives on ignorance, sunk us all into the dark ages, and has resisted human rights and equality for most of its 1500 year reign.

What have the Christians ever done for us?

Our guest today - who says he’s not a believing Christian - reckons many of us have things completely back to front. It’s Christianity, he insists, that gave us many of the secular humanitarian ideals we hold so dear.

LINKS

This episode was sponsored by Zondervan's new book Person of Interest: Why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible by J Warner Wallace
Meet our guest, Tom Holland
Read Holland's latest book, Dominion: The making of the Western Mind
Or check out his YouTube channel, where you can watch one of the documentaries he made with the BBC on Islam
Here's a 5 minute primer on stoicism from Ted-Ed. Want more? Here's a good place to start to learn more about Stoicism.
Watch the trailer for HBO's award-winning series, Rome. Be warned... it's brutal.
More on the Pax Romana ("Roman peace")
Watch this segment from the Centre For Public Christianity's documentary, For the Love of God, on the origins of western healthcare.
Here is Stephen Greenblatt's book The Swerve from 2012, which offers a contrary argument about Christianity's influence on the world. Full disclosure: Tom Holland, while an admirer of Greenblatt's work on Shakespeare, thinks The Swerve is by far his worst book.
So ... the Dark Ages? Not so dark. We'll undoubtedly do a whole episode on that soon enough, but in the meantime, John Dickson's new book Bullies and Saints has a bit to say about it too.

The best of Remembering Women

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 00:01:00 +1000

John Dickson is taking a bit of a break to grieve the passing of his friend, Ben Shaw. So, in the interim, Producer Kaley and Director Mark have decided to choose their favourite Undeceptions episodes to drop into your podcast feed for two weeks.

Week number two is brought to you by Director Mark. He has chosen to re-share the Remembering Women episode. John visits Dr. Lynne Cohick to chat about how early Christians valued and celebrated women in the first centuries of the church.

Director Mark recommends it because unveils a side of feminine history he'd missed, gets us outdoors again in the middle of an Australian lockdown, and includes a whole gamut of contributions, including Producer Kaley's favourite music.

The best of Old Papers

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 00:01:00 +1000

Producer Kaley's favourite is the very first episode of Undeceptions, called ‘Old Papers’. It harks back to a time when we were allowed to travel overseas, and John visited the University of Michigan’s Papyrology department to get his hands on some of the earliest manuscripts we have for the New Testament.

Producer Kaley reckons it’s what Undeceptions does best: it’s historical, it’s hands-on and it laid the groundwork for what this podcast wants to sound like - friendly and factual, with a little nerdy excitement thrown in.

Facing Death Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 00:01:00 +1000

Ben Shaw and John Dickson were friends since childhood, became Christians together in their teens, formed a rock and roll band in their 20s, and went on to study theology and minister in the fields God opened up to them.

The death of Ben Shaw has provided John with an opportunity to reflect on the sort of book his best friend felt was worth using his last months to write, and the spiritual lessons he has learned from decades of standing beside him.

Unhealthy Anger Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:01:00 +1000

John Dickson invites solicitor and social commentator Stephanie Kate Judd to offer an opinion on the sexism that simultaneously abuses and silences women.

Outrage, she says, is an appropriate response to significant wrongdoing, but unchecked rage can corrode the very hearts that feel that injustice most keenly.

Instead, Stephanie suggests a way in which we can confront a problem but still keep our anger healthy.

44. Teenage Jesus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 05:00:00 +1000

Jesus was once a teenage boy, right? Was he a rascal? Who did he hang out with? Was he considered the ancient equivalent of a jock, a cool kid, a nerd, or something else?

And how on earth did he get through the normal teenage years of angst and still be … the perfect incarnation of God?

There’s a bit of speculation about teenage Jesus. And we promise to cover all the evidence for it in this episode.

LINKS

This episode is brought to you by Zondervan's new Bible commentary on the Gospel of Mark
More about 10 Things I Hate About You, which you heard at the beginning of this episode.
Check out the Infancy of Thomas, an apocryphal document that purports to narrate episodes from Jesus’ youth from the age of five up until his twelfth year.
Get to know our guest, Dr Chris Forbes.
Listen to Canon Fodder, from Season 3 of Undeceptions, which also features Dr Forbes. It's all about how the Bible was put together and why which books were chosen as scripture and some books weren't.
Here's that TedTalk on raising rebels. Good luck to listeners attempting to do so!
The Lost Years of Jesus documentary.
The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ by Nicolas Notovitch (Yeah, we're not suggesting your rush out and get this one!)
Here's a travel diary to follow if you want to try to "walk in the steps of Jesus" in Nepal, even if he didn't actually go there! Articles like these just keep popping up.
Check out this talk that John Dickson gave on the difference between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Buddhism or Hinduism.
Here's the one passage in the gospels that talks about Jesus as a teen... Luke 2:42-51.
More on David Flusser, the great Jewish Professor of History and Religion from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

43. Big Porn

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +1000

For every voice decrying the evils of pornography, there’s another that says it’s healthy, part of our freedom of expression, “sex positive”! So, which is it?

LINKS

This epidoe of Undeceptions is brought to you by Zondervan’s new commentary on the book of Exodus by Christopher Wright.
Meet our guest, Melinda Tankard Reist, and find out more about the Collective Shout Movement that she founded.
Meet our other guests, Professor William Struthers and Simon Camilleri
Read more on the protest of the 70,000 Korean women who held banners shouting 'My life is not your porn' in 2018 after a spike in the number of spycams found in female bathrooms.
Read the New York Times explosive investigative report 'The Children of Pornhub', published in December 2020.
In response to the NYT report, Mastercard and Visa withdrew their cooperation with Pornhub later that month.
Read Melinda Tankard Reist's book, Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Porn Industry
Here's the research John Dickson lists off in this episode on pornography:
- A study by the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society said it found that pornography enabled sexual confidence and positive community formation, especially for LGBTIQ+ people.
- A 2007 study published in the American Journal of Medicine found that the sex lives of 18 million men over age 20 were negatively affected due to excessive porn viewing.
- A recent study by the Kinsey Institute showed that people who use technology for sexting or webcamming gained a sense of emotional connection as well as sexual gratification from this contact.
- In a study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, researchers discovered a significant association between reported pornography hours per week and gray matter volume in the human brain, and a drop in reactivity to sexual cues.
- A study published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour looking at Norwegian use of pornography found that couples who use pornography together tended to enjoy a more permissive erotic climate. But where only one person in the couple did, men who used porn were likely to experience problems with arousal, and women who used porn were likely to have increased negative self perception.
In February 2021 in Australia, a former Sydney schoolgirl launched a petition calling for ‘sexual consent education’ to be taught much earlier in schools.
In this opinion piece, a high school teacher argues that 'Hardcore porn is to blame for disturbing teenage sex culture'
This 'TraffickingHub' online petition to shutdown Pornhub has over 2 million signatures.
Here's a [safe] link with more information on Pornhub's traffic numbers.
Sexual health research stresses the ‘bonding hormones’ released with sexual encounters. Check out this with Australian sex researcher, Dr Patricia Weerakoon on this subject.
C. S. Lewis, the great Oxford literary don and public advocate of Christianity, once defended the biblical approach to sex against the call in his day (the 1940s) for more sexual ‘freedom’. His insights are as relevant today as then:

I know some muddleheaded Christians have talked as if Christianity thought that sex, or the body, or pleasure, were bad in themselves. But they were wrong. Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body—which believes that matter is good, that God himself once took on a human body, that some kind of body is going to be given to us even in heaven and is going to be an essential part of our happiness, our beauty and our energy.

Christianity has glorified marriage more than any other religion: and nearly all the greatest love poetry in the world has been produced by Christians. If anyone says that sex, in itself, is bad, Christianity contradicts him at once … There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips.

I do not say that you and I are individually responsible for the present situation. Our ancestors have handed over to us organisms which are warped in this respect: and we grow up surrounded by propaganda in favour of unchastity. There are people who want to keep our sex instinct inflamed in order to make money out of us. Because, of course, a man with an obsession is a man who has very little sales-resistance. God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. HarperCollins, 1997, 81-82)

42. God's War II

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 31 May 2021 04:00:00 +1000

This is the second part of our two-part series on the Crusades. For Part One, click here.

A brutal slaughter at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem marked the end of the first crusade. The Crusaders had recaptured Jerusalem and the Holy Lands. They had regained control and care of The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, probably medieval Christianity’s most sacred site, built over what was believed to be Jesus’ empty tomb.

Their job was done and most of the crusaders packed up and went home, bolstered in their belief that God had been with them and seized their victory. Job done!

So, why the need for a 2nd Crusade? Or a 3rd, 4th or 5th for that matter?

LINKS

This episode is brought to you by Zondervan's new book Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History by John Dickson. There's plenty more on the Crusades that we couldn't fit into this episode.
Meet our distinguished guest, Professor Christopher Tyerman and check out his magnum opus, God's War: A New History of the Crusades.
Here's more on that terrible movie, King Richard and His Crusaders from 1954.
The 50 Worst Films of All Time, according to Wikipedia.
Learn more about Saladin, the most famous of Muslim warriors.
Meet Francis of Assisi, one of the most charismatic and influential clerics of the Middle Ages.
Here's some more on Rabbi Hillel, who John quotes from in this episode's Five Minute Jesus.
John quotes extensively from David Flusser's book The Sage of Galilee: Rediscovering Jesus' Genius, also in this episode's Five Minute Jesus.
Watch President George W Bush's full remarks from 16 September 2001, where he said of the 9/11 terrorist attacks: "This is a new kind of -- a new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while."
Here's the Wall Street Journal article, 'Crusade reference reinforces fears this war on terrorism is against Muslims'
Read up on the Ottoman Empire here.
The Crusader City - Caesarea - and its archaelogical ruins make for an interesting travel destination, according to The Washington Post.
Just one example of the Crusades misinterpreted history: 'The New Zealand massacre and the weaponisation of history'from Al Jazeera.

41. God's War I

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 24 May 2021 04:00:00 +1000

This is the first of a two part episode on The Crusades.

Over nine hundred years after the launch of the first Crusade, world leaders are still invoking their memory to explain ongoing conflict. But how plausible is that?

Chances are, whether you're a Christian or a skeptic, what you think you know about the Crusades is wrong. Or so says our guest for this episode.

What were the Crusades? How did they start? What did they achieve? Why did they stop?

And does their shadow really fall over modern tensions between the West and Muslim lands?

LINKS

Get John Dickson's new book Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History, published by our sponsor Zondervan. It's got a heap more on the Crusades than we could fit into this episode.
Meet our distinguished guest, Professor Christopher Tyerman.
Check out Tyerman's magnum opus, God's War: A New History of the Crusades. He has a written a bunch more, too.
Watch the full news segment from France 24 about the Charlie Hebdo caricatures that enraged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Listen to this fascinating episode of The New York Times podcast The Daily, all about the killing of French teacher Samuel Paty and the raging debate in France over the relationship between government and religion - primarily the idea of Laïcité - the constitutional principle of secularism in France.
Listen to the Undeceptions Single all about 'The Troubles' of Northern Ireland.
Here are the Old Testament references where God commands violence:
- In 1 Samuel, when God commands Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites.
  - Read this article from The Gospel Coalition writer and blogger Steve McAlpine, Indefensible? Saul and the Amalekite Genocide
- In the book of Joshua, God ordains a holy war against the Canaanites.
  - And then check out this article 'But, what about Canaan?' quoting John Dickson giving an explanation about what in the world is God doing in the Book of Joshua with the Canaanites.
  - You might also like to check out this explanation, Why did God demand the invasion of Canaan in the Book of Joshua? by The Bible Project.
Check out Saint Augustine's City of God for more on his broad principles of just war.
Read Pope Urban II's full speech at the Council of Clermont in 1095, where he officially called for the First Crusade.
Here's more on Ridley Scott's 2005 film, Kingdom of Heaven.

40. Religious Freedom

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 17 May 2021 04:00:00 +1000

LINKS

Get to know our guest Professor Robert Wilken
This episode is sponsored by Zondervan's new book, The Problem of Jesus by Mark Clark
Read Robert Wilken's latest book Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom
More on the Edict of Milan, in which Constantine declared: “Freedom and full liberty has been granted in accordance with the peace of our times to exercise free choice in worshipping as each one has seen fit. This has been done by us so that nothing may seem to be taken away from anyone’s honour or from any religion whatsoever.”
More on Roger Williams
Find out more about Thomas Jefferson and religious freedom.
Our 'Phone a Friend' guest this episode was Tim Wilson, an Australian Liberal MP and former Human Rights Commissioner. Watch a talk Tim gave on religious freedom to the Centre For Independent Studies here.

39. Guilty Conscience

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 10 May 2021 01:00:00 +1000

Guilt is a big topic - there is so much to say. Like the feeling of guilt itself, it is layered.

We deal with guilt on an individual level and on a societal one.

“Guilt is a religious problem which interests theologians, a social problem which interests sociologists and a psychological problem which interests psychologists,” wrote psychotherapist and theologian, Paul Tournier, in his book Guilt and Grace.

People sometimes speak of ‘religious guilt’ or ‘Catholic guilt’ and it’s almost always used negatively. The assumption is that if you are religious, you are dealing with much more guilt than the regular person, and certainly more than is healthy!

But maybe guilt is actually good?

And maybe religion - Christianity in particular - is the maestro of listening to, directing, and silencing the guilt we experience in our lives.

LINKS

About that record... the first was already dead: angler -- read more about Clive White's trout confession.
This episode is brought to you by Zondervan's new book Bullies and Saints: An honest look at the good and evil of Christian history by John Dickson.
Meet our guest, Dr Rob Waller.
Meet our guest, Professor Wilfred McClay
Here's Rob's book, The Guilt Book
Here's Bill's essay from The Hedgehog Review, The Strange Persistence of Guilt (behind a paywall, sorry!)
The scene from Daredevil on Netflix was from Season 2, Episode 4. Though, we're not really saying you should watch it.
This one's specifically for John, actually: More on 30 Rock, the American satirical comedy created by Tina Fey. (PS. It won 16 Emmy awards and is regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all time).
Here's the atheist bus campaign that Bill talks about.
You can learn more about Neitzsche's theory on the genealogy of guilt here.
Here's Sigmund Freud's Civilisation and its Discontents, where he declared guilt to be “the most important problem in the development of civilization.” He said “the price we pay for our advance in civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt.”
Here we are again, with a link for the Netflix series The Good Place. (So great that we keep quoting it. Dear John, you should definitely keep watching. Love Kaley and Mark)
There's a lot of views about whether or not to destroy Confederate statues. Here's a few interesting reads from different perspectives:
- A Solution to the Confederate-Monument Problem: Destroying the statues won’t erase the past. Why not let them deteriorate in a public space instead? from The Atlantic
- We need to move, not destroy, Confederate monuments from The New York Times
- Nearly 100 Confederate monuments removed in 2020, says report. Over 700 remain. from NPR (America's National Public Radio)
- The battle over Confederate statues, explained: Confederate statues have always been about white supremacy. That’s why they’re coming down, by Vox
- And, here's Undeceptions own Laurel Moffatt giving her thoughts during an Undeceptions single last year.
Read the research by sociologists Bradley and Manning on victimhood: The Rise of Victimhood Culture, in which they write:

"A culture of victimhood is one characterized by concern with status and sensitivity to slight combined with a heavy reliance on third parties. People are intolerant of insults, even if unintentional, and react by bringing them to the attention of authorities or to the public at large. People increasingly demand help from others, and advertise their oppression as evidence that they deserve respect and assistance. This only increases the incentive to publicize grievances, and it means aggrieved parties are especially likely to highlight their identity as victims, emphasizing their own suffering and innocence."

It's Jiminy Cricket!
Read more on Professor Tyler Vander Weele's research on whether forgiveness is a public health issue.

38. Mental Health

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 03 May 2021 05:00:00 +1000

Perhaps you’ve heard it before - religion is bad for your mental health. It triggers feelings of guilt, self-loathing and bigotry.

But, actually, there are many ways in which the opposite is true. Karen Pang's story is testament to that, which you'll hear in this episode.

There’s also a growing body of research - authoritative, real-life, peer-reviewed research - that reports a significant benefit to wellbeing if you are religious.

That’s right. You are more healthy if you are religious.

Do you need help?

LINKS

This episode is brought to you by Zondervan Academic's book, Three Views on Chrisitanity and Science with contributions from Alister McGrath, Bruce L Gordon and Michael Ruse.
Meet our guest, Karen Pang
Meet our guest, Professor Tyler VanderWeele
Meet out guest, Lyn Worsley
Listen to the full interview with Buff and John Dickson on ABC's The Spirit of Things
Watch the full Playschool series on feelings, How do you feel today?
Read the full data on the risk of suicide for people with bipolar, from SANE Australia
Read the biblical accounts of the deaths of Saul and Judas.
Read St Augustine's City of God
Check out Tyler VanderWeele's research on deaths of despair and religious service attendance. Full paper here.
Tyler's research on mental and physical health and the effects of religious service attendance (also check out his full list of research papers in his profile above!)
Watch Tyler VanderWeele consider whether the results of his research that concluded religious service attendance had a significant positive impact on mental health might be reverse causation.
Get the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Health
See for yourself the strong evidence of an association between attending religious services and happiness and life satisfaction.
Need help to pray? Try the Book of Common Prayer, which Buff Dickson talks about praying through when she just couldn't find the words on her own. Here's an example, the prayer for Sunday 2 May 2021:

Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Unknown Soldier Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 00:01:00 +1000

It is the day after ANZAC Day, that occasion when Australians and New Zealanders commemorate those who died in the defence of our country.

At a time like this, it is worth considering the inscription bourne by many military tombstones across the world - 'Unknown Soldier - Known Unto God'.

This is not just a way of saying, "We don't know who he is; I guess God does." It has a profound meaning about the peculiar way in which God knows His creatures.

The Troubles Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:01:00 +1000

Critics of Christianity have often pointed to The Troubles in Northern Ireland as proof that, "Religion ruins everything."

But how accurate is the statement? How accurate is it to even label The Troubles a religious conflict?

John Dickson shares a chapter of his upcoming book, Bullies And Saints, on how the Troubles got started and how Christianity helped to bring them to an end.

Click here to order a copy of John Dickson's Bullies and Saints.

Western Fundamentalism Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 09:02:00 +1000

Gordon Menzies advised the federal government on the deregulation of the Australian dollar, underlining his credentials when it came to liberalism.

However, his new book titled 'Western Fundamentalism' suggests a more conservative way of seeing the world.

He tells John Dickson, though, that a Christian is capable of rejecting definitions of both left and right to forge a distinctly different path.

American Soul Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 00:01:00 +1000

Dr. Laurel Moffatt rejoins the Undeceptions team to consider the state of the American soul.

Researchers have revealed that this nation of the bold and the free is now united more by the things that its citizens hate than those they love.

Is there any way out of this emotional and moral quagmire? Dr. Moffatt thinks so.

Still Cancer Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 00:01:00 +1100

How do you face the rapidly approaching end of a battle with cancer?

In Series 2, Episode 13 of Undeceptions, John Dickson met up with his friend Ben Shaw to discuss his recent diagnosis of that dreaded disease.

The It's Cancer episode raised serious questions about what place pain has in a world created by a good God.

Now, in the run-up to Easter, John returns to ask Ben if the call to face cancer has brought on new spiritual insights.

37. Racist Church

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 05:00:00 +1100

Some would argue that Christianity itself is racist. Given the sweep of history, this is a charge that has to be confronted.

So we’re going to speak to a couple of people who, despite all the things the church has done wrong -- and continues to do wrong -- and despite all the things the church should be doing but just isn’t - still see Christ as Lord. They are still part of the church. They still think Christianity is beautiful, even if parts of the church are not.

You as listeners - whether you believe or not - are going to have to be the judges here.

This is not an episode in which I feel competent to lecture anyone.

I don’t know what it’s like to be a minority. That’s why we’re speaking to people today who do know.

LINKS

Meet our guest, Jemar Tisby
- Read his latest book, How to fight racism
- Read Jemar’s other book The Colour of Compromise: the truth about the American Church’s complicity in racism
- Check out The Witness
Get to know Brooke Prentis
- Find out more about Common Grace
Watch Brenda Salter McNeil’s full talk on her ‘response to racism’
This episode is supported by Zondervan Academic’s book Evangelical Theology by Michael Bird
Full CNN report on the global protests sparked by the death of George Floyd
Read more about the Black Lives Matter movement in this series from The New Yorker
Divided by Faith: Evangelical religion and the problem of race in America, Michael Emerson and Christian Smith
Listen to Tim Keller’s full speech on Racism and Corporate Evil
Also read Tim Keller’s series on justice and race in the Gospel In Life Magazine
Read more about the Southern Baptists and Critical Race Theory
And a little more about Critical Race Theory more generally: Are all white people racist? Why Critical Race Theory has us rattled, Sydney Morning Herald

More on Australia’s Aboriginal history

Mapping the massacres of Australia’s colonial frontier, The University of Newcastle
More on the Aboriginal reserves and stations
Close the Gap 2020: The annual report of Parliament on progress in Closing the Gap and achieving equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in health and life expectancy
Bringing Them Home Report 1997 - A Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children From Their Families.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says “Sorry” on behalf of the Australian Government in 2008
Watch Australia’s National Aboriginal Bishop in the Anglican Church, Chris McLeod’s full interview on Black Lives Matter and the Church
Brooke Prentis gave us three pieces of content she believes all Australians should consume to learn more about the true history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia:
- Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe
- Talking to My Country, by Stan Grant
- First Australians documentary, SBS

Here's the alternate view on racism in America

Candace Owens is a conservative US commentator who has a very different take on the Black Lives Matter movement and how she thinks her country should be dealing with racism.
- On what she believes is the real goal of the Black Lives Matter movement
- On White Guilt
Ben Shapiro is one of the most popular conservative commentators in the US. He disagrees with the idea of systemic racism. More here.

Undeceptions T-Shirts are here! Click here to get yours now.

36. 100 Pages

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 05:00:00 +1100

Perhaps you’re sceptical, perhaps you’re just undecided - our challenge for you for 2021 is: read at least 100 pages of the Bible.

This book has shaped much of our world. It would be great to think that you’ve got your head around at least 100 pages, as an adult, with all your grownup questions activated.

Yes, the Bible is weird. It’s got wars, bizarre laws, talking snakes, perhaps even a unicorn or two, slavery, misogyny, and much more. But there is way to read this stuff, and there’s a way not to.

And we reckon today’s guest can help us with both, and make 2021 TO ETOS TES BIBLOU, the year of the Bible.

This episode is brought to you by Zondervan Academic’s new book How to Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby.

LINKS

Meet our guest Dan Kimball
- And get his new book How NOT to read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-Women, Anti-Science, Pro-Violence, Pro-Slavery and Other Crazy Sounding Parts of Scripture
Read more of the Finder survey that explored how many Americans make NY resolutions.
And that Forbes Magazine article about how many will actually accomplish those resolutions.
Here’s the full list of the most common NY resolutions according to “Polly” the artificial intelligence operated by the market research firm Advanced Symbolics Inc.
Read the study that found that for around a half of adults today and two-thirds of under-25s, the Bible has absolutely no significance in their personal lives.
Here's why might you want to read the Bible, even if you’re not a Christian. Dr Meredith Lake from the ABC wrote this piece for The Conversation in 2017 about why our decline in biblical literacy matters:

"Among Australian creatives, too, literary lights such as Patrick White, Elizabeth Jolley, Tim Winton, Helen Garner and Christos Tsiolkas all make powerful use of biblical narratives and imagery. Songwriters from Nick Cave to the late Yolngu star Gurrumul have drawn on the scriptures in their lyrics.

"Biblical stories and symbols have also inspired visual artists such as Grace Cossington Smith, Arthur Boyd and Margaret Preston. Reg Mombassa’s popular creation, “Australian Jesus”, offers a subversive take on the gospels.

"Each of these Australians has found the Bible an enlarging influence on the imagination. Audiences can easily miss key elements of their work without a degree of biblical literacy."

Or check out this book by John Dickson’s friend, and co-founder of The Centre for Public Christianity Dr Greg Clarke, The Great Bible Swindle, written especially for those who feel that they should know something about the world's most influential text, but may have been afraid to ask.
Watch The West Wing scene about the Old Testament in modern times.
Were footballs ever made of pigskins?
Meet our 5 Minute Jesus author this episode, Laurel Moffatt.
Christopher Hitchens speaking to Vanity Fair on the Ten Commandments

Undeceptions Single series on slavery:

Swing low: The campaign against slavery was a shining jewel in the collection of social changes that swept the 19th century. However history shows us it was clearly not a secular viewpoint that set people free.

First Abolitionist: Gregory of Nyssa could have been the man who changed history, if history had listened to his theory on slavery.

Freeing Slaves: The early church adopted many approaches to rescuing people from the scourge of slavery and, when legal means failed, its members were ready to risk themselves on slave raids.

Medieval Manumission:What would you be prepared to give in order to set a slave free? How much would it be worth to you? One medieval man gave everything he had, right down to the shirt off his back.

Indigenous slaves: Was Australia built on slavery, or wasn't it? It depends very much on who you ask.

Make 2021 TO ETOS TES BIBLOU, ‘The Year of the Bible’

Take up John Dickson’s challenge of reading at least 100 pages of the Bible this year. Here’s his Top Ten Old and New Testament Bible passages to get you started.

Here’s some links to translations John Dickson recommends:

Learn more about Greg Koukl’s Never Read a Bible Verse which he says is his attempt to His “rescue believers from a superstitious way of reading their Bibles that causes silliness, confusion, and sometimes even disaster.”

Here’s an overview of the storyline of the Bible.

The visual was created by a church here in Sydney, based on a book by friend of the podcast, Vaughan Roberts, titled God’s Big Picture.

Undeceptions T-Shirts are coming really soon!
We've got top quality Ts in medium, large and x-large that will help you promote the show and do your own bit of undeceiving. Head to undeceptions.com later this week - they'll be ready for purchase soon.

35. Ask Anything III

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +1100

You may not feel ready to experience heaven or hell quite yet but Undeceptions listeners certainly had a lot of questions about it! In this season’s Q&A episode, John Dickson attempts to answer at least some of the questions you’ve thrown at us this year.

This episode is brought to you by Zondervan Academic’s How NOT to read the Bible by Dan Kimball

LINKS

QUESTIONS

Is the punishment of Hell proportional to our acts on Earth?
Are there levels of Heaven?
Why do we know so little about Heaven?
What are we to think of God who is always present, even in the face of evil and abuse?
Why is it considered Good News, if so many who don’t believe will end up in Hell?
Do we lose our free will in heaven?
Are demons real?
Should Christians eat meat?
Is there any benefit in reading the Apocrypha?
Even if I believed in God, why would I believe in the Christian God? What makes Jesus so special as opposed to, say, Islam?
Has the modern church tried to white-wash Jesus?
Is the church trying too hard in its attempts to persuade same-sex attracted church people to live holy lives rather than relying on God and the power of the gospel?
What should we do about the health, wealth and prosperity gospel?

Extra questions John answered this season

Drew asks,

The highly regarded scholar David Bentley Hart’s somewhat recent translation of the New Testament translates the Greek work ‘aion’ [i-on] or ‘aionios’ [i-on-ios] to be the more temporal description of ‘of the Age’ rather than the traditional ‘eternal’.

This seemingly impacts the well-established Christian doctrines of heaven and hell. Is the claim of life eternal through Jesus now seriously up for debate?

Listen to John’s answer at undeceptions.com

Follow up this question with some extra reading:

Steve asks,

I just listened to the first podcast - Old Papers. I had always thought Paul wrote Hebrews, lately my various pastors have suggested that, no, Paul did not write Hebrews. Hearing that Hebrews was in these old papers of Paul’s writings made me think, I wonder what the answer is?

Listen to John’s answer at undeceptions.com

34. World's End

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +1100

Christianity has plenty to say about the future and what the end of the world might look like -- though some think it says a lot more than others.

Christians have, in fact, been accused of being obsessed with end times, so much so that they stop caring about the world they’re in right now. And sometimes that’s true.

But apocalyptic Christians aren’t the only ones dwelling on all this. Plenty of us are more interested than ever - especially this year! - in how the world will end. The stories we tell ourselves in culture are becoming increasingly apocalyptic.

Why is that?

This episode is brought to you by our season sponsor Zondervan Academic, publishers of the Collected Essays of N.T. Wright.

LINKS

Have a read through The Book of Revelation.
Watch Australia’s Secretary for Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo’s, full speech on ‘Securing Australia’ here.
Get to know our guest, Alissa Wilkinson from Vox
- And read Alissa’s book How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, Politics and the End of the World
- Pssst… here’s an except of the book, a chapter on ‘The Myth of the Secular Apocalypse
Get to know our guest, Professor Richard Bauckham, one of greatest living theologians.
- Professor Bauckham has written many, many books. But since our discussion revolved around the Book of Revelation, you should check out his book on that subject, The Theology of the Book of Revelation
Here’s the 2010 New York Times article Alissa mentions by Chuck Klosterman, My Zombie, Myself: Why modern life feels rather undead.
For a more in-your-face example of how pop culture continues to use biblical imagery from The Book of Revelation, just watch the trailer for the 2016 blockbuster, X-Men.
- The film’s director Bryan Singer told the LA Times that Apocalypse - an immensely powerful and ancient mutant - views himself not as a mutant but as a god. Singer says, quote “For all intents and purposes, he is potentially the God of the Old Testament. After being buried for 4,000 years, he awakens to a society that has become interconnected and developed hubris. Humans have created nuclear weapons and assumed godlike proportions in the buildings they build and the things they create. So he sets about to eradicate those things and build what he considers a cleaner, purer world.”
Check out Alissa’s Syllabus for the End of the World - her list of stories that tell us how to live during -and after - a pandemic.
Here’s the Al Jazeera tape of Harold Camping’s apocalypse prediction in 2011
Here’s the Left Behind book series… but John reckons you should skip it. Read C.S. Lewis’ Narnia Series instead.
More on the US National Evangelical Leaders survey of 2011, which found that 65 per cent of evangelical church leaders in the US identify with premillennial theology, which grounds this rapture idea.
Watch REM’s Michael Stipe’s full Coronavirus message.
More on the Macquarie Dictionary’s Word of 2020, “Doomscrolling”
John quotes from the pseudepigraphal work (not in any biblical canon) Psalms of Solomon in this episode’s 5 Minute Jesus. Read more about them here.

Movies and TV referenced in this episode

Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road, and the “very fine” movie.
Wagner’s Ring Cycle
The Hunger Games

EXTRAS

Here’s John Dickson and Professor Bauckham’s discussion on ‘the Millennium’ in the Book of Revelation. Listen here.

WIN!

We’re giving away 20 copies of John's book, 666 And All That: The Truth about the End Times, which he co-wrote with Dr Greg Clarke. If you’d like to win a copy, you just need to be one of the first 20 new subscribers to the Undeceptions e-newsletter. So quick! Head to undeceptions.com, scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and subscribe now. We'll be in touch with the winners in the first week of January.

33. Danger: Proselytising

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +1100

Proselytise: to convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another.

Why are Christians such god-botherers? Is it possible to share your belief system with someone who doesn’t accept without being a jerk?

Many people today would have you believe that there is no context in which proselytising could be considered a good thing.

This episode is supported by Zondervan's MasterLecture Series.

LINKS

Find out more about our guest, Dr Sam Chan
And check out his latest book, How to talk about Jesus (without being THAT guy)
And here's a rather extensive review of Sam’s book here.
Sam's book Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News About Jesus More Believable won Christianity Today's Book of the Year in evangelism and apologetics.
- PS -- How to Talk about Jesus (without being THAT guy) is the popular-level version of the more textbook-style Evangelism in a Skeptical World.
Sam quoted Mark Sayers, co-host of the podcast This Cultural Moment.

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

32. Homo Deus

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +1100

Transhumanism is the transformation of the human condition through sophisticated technologies that modify our physiology and intellect.

This episode, we continue our conversation about Artificial Intelligence with Professor John Lennox, and Dr.s Vicky Lorrimar and Grenville Kent.

This episode is brought to you by series sponsor Zondervan Academic, publishers of How to talk about Jesus without being THAT guy by Sam Chan.

LINKS

Meet Professor John Lennox
Get Professor Lennox’s book 2084: Artificial intelligence and the future of humanity
Say hi to episode guests Dr Grenville Kent and Dr Vicky Lorrimar
Watch this primer on ‘Transhumanism’ from BBC Ideas.
Read The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil (Lennox called him one of the most insightful people on this topic last episode)
Watch this Ted Talk on how close we are to be able to ‘upload our minds’
This is the article on The Washington Post in which Elon Musk talks about AI as summoning the demon (as mentioned by Lennox)
Here’s a useful explainer on Utilitarianism from University of Texas
Read this profile on Peter Singer from 1999 in The Guardian: The most dangerous man in the world
- Dig deeper into Peter Singer’s utilitarianism views, critiqued by John Lennox here.
More on Naturalism.
Read CS Lewis’ essay ‘On living in an atomic age’ in his book of essays ‘Present Concerns’
Learn more about quantum mechanics in 60 seconds on BBC with Brian Cox
Read 'The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics', BBC

Movie and Television referenced in this episode:

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today

31. Artificial Intelligence

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 05:00:00 +1100

"I'm all for technology being used in a good sense. I often say to people, AI is like a knife, a very sharp knife. You can use it to operate with, or you can use it to kill people." -- Professor John Lennox

Artificial Intelligence is the buzz phrase of the 21st century.

For some, it’s a welcome step into a future that promises all manner of good. For others, AI is damaging at best and, at worst, a step towards our own destruction.

This episode, with the help of the great John Lennox, we ask the question: is Artificial Intelligence an under-estimated threat… or the saviour we’ve been waiting for?

This episode is brought to you by series sponsor Zondervan Academic, publishers of Telling a better story: how to talk about God in a skeptical age by Josh Chatraw.

LINKS

Meet Professor John Lennox
Get Professor Lennox’s book 2084: Artificial intelligence and the future of humanity
Read more about how China is using surveillance technology to keep tabs on its citizens in this article from The Atlantic: 'The Panopticon Is Already Here'
Check out George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984
Learn more about the Singularity with this article from Futurism: 'Singularity: Explain it to me like I’m 5 years old'
Why Elon Musk fears artificial intelligence, Vox
Lennox called Google’s Chief Futurist, Ray Kurzweil, “one of the great gurus in this field”. Read more about him here.
Find out more about Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and Homo Deus
Watch the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees, talk about the potential dangers of science and technology over the next 50 years
Read more about science fiction author Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics and why they’re a little out of date
Say hi to episode guests Dr Grenville Kent and Dr Vicky Lorrimar
Read a recent ABC opinion piece by Dr Lorrimar, What hope? Dreams of immortality in the time of a pandemic
More on Beowulf, the longest epic poem in Old English.
Here's some ancient ‘technology’ to find out more on (as mentioned in this episode's Five Minute Jesus)
Read the whole story of the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis
More on deus ex machina (not the Australian motorcycles)
Read the Asilomar Ethical Principles
Watch Rosalind Picard’s TedTalk about the smartwatch she has developed that can detect seizures.
- Then, watch her story of how she became a Christian

All the movies referenced in this episode:

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

30. Canon Fodder

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 05:00:00 +1100

How did the New Testament actually come together? Some have argued that is a “chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents” that has been revised and ‘improved’ over centuries.

Others have argued it is a deeply political document, created to quell rebellions and placate a growing and agitated movement.

Millions of people put their trust in the New Testament. It’s time to get to the bottom of how it was created.

This episode of Undeceptions is brought to you by Zondervan Academic, publishers of 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity by John Lennox.

LINKS

Producer Kaley is actually the one who likes Survivor. She thinks you should watch it, too.
Richard Dawkin’s quote about the Bible being a cobbled-together anthology was from The God Delusion.
If you really have to, you can read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown or watch the movie.
- But then listen to this 5-part series with John Dickson on Hope 103.2FM (Sydney Christian radio station), Why the Da Vinci Code is a very novel history
Find out more about our guest Dr Chris Forbes, who has actually just retired from Macquarie University.
Find out more about Dr Michael Bird from Ridley College.
- And check out Michael's latest book The New Testament in It's World (with N.T. Wright)
Watch John Dickson talk about the conversion of Constantine the Great from this clip from the Centre For Public Christianity’s documentary For the Love of God
Learn more about Justin Martyr, the first Christian apologist.
What’s with the ending in the gospel of Mark? Check out this article from The Gospel Coalition, written by Elijah Hixson from Tyndale House in Cambridge: Was Mark 16:9-20 originally part of Mark’s Gospel?
Get to know Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon
More on the Muratorian Canon
Here is John’s beloved copy of The Apostolic Fathers
Read the New York Times report on the discovery of the Gospel of Judas, from 2006
Read more about the Gospel of Judas in this article by John Dickson in 2008 from The Centre for Public Christianity
For more on the Gnostic Gospels, get your hands on The Christ Files, a documentary with John Dickson. Here’s a preview.
You can have a look for yourself at the beautiful Codex Sinaiticus at this link. You can scroll through the pages online -- so go check out the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas at the back!
Get to know Eusebius of Caesarea
- And read his Ecclesiastical History too.

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

29. Childish God

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 05:00:00 +1100

For years, people have argued that our minds’ natural default position is non-belief. Left to ourselves, we would never grow up thinking about God.

Religion is, therefore, an imposition on the susceptible minds of children. Some have suggested that teaching kids about God comes close to a form of brain washing.

Our guest for this episode, Justin Barrett, says that is actually getting harder to argue.

Research from the last 20 years indicates that thoughts about God aren’t by-products of American or Western culture. It’s not indoctrination. These thoughts are natural.

Believing that someone - not something - governs the world comes as easily to kids as curiosity, imagination and play.

Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor, publishers of How NOT to read the Bible, by Dan Kimball.

LINKS

Find out more about our guest Professor Justin L Barrett.
Get Professor Barrett’s book, Born Believers: The Science of Children’s Religious Belief
More on Ludwig Feuerbach and his ideas on religion as “wish fulfillment’
Watch more of comedy trio Just These Please here.
Read more about Sigmund Freud’s views on religion in this New York Times Magazine piece called 'Defender of the Faith'.
Professor Barrett is a big fan of Deborah Keleman’s work from Boston University. Find out more about Keleman, here.
- And read this article from New Scientist about one of Keleman’s studies from 2009, 'Humans may be primed to believe in creation'.
- And this article from American Pscyhological Association titled ‘A Reason to Believe’
- Keleman’s findings about children in China who endorse teleological explanations of natural phenomena can be found in the May 2017 Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
What in the world does ‘teleological’ mean? It’s an explanation by reference to some purpose, end, goal or function. So, a teleological explanation is an account of a given thing’s purpose. Check out this explanation on Britannica.
Keleman, with other researchers, has only completed studies on whether non-religious adults have a tacit tendency to view nature as purposefully created by some being. They conducted research in Finland (a notoriously secular country) and the US and compared results. Read the report here.
How the Borks Became: An Adventure in Evolution by Jonathan Emmett
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Atlantic interviewed Philip Pullman about His Dark Materials, which has recently been made into an HBO series:

“Storytelling, for Pullman, is a way into our world—not out of it. He loves folktales and fairy tales for their clarity and everydayness; he loves William Blake; he loves what we might call the Luciferian or deity-defying side of John Milton. He even, in a cranky and rather beautiful way, loves Jesus. But he hates the bloody Church.

“You’ll pick this up quite quickly when you watch the first episode of HBO’s new dramatization of His Dark Materials. A body called the Magisterium holds a centuries-long dominion over the earthly realm. It spews doctrine; it crushes heresy; it circumscribes knowledge and inhibits discussion. Its priests are everywhere, like secret police. It’s also stealing children.”

Here's a different take on His Dark Materials, from Christianity Today:

"The church without a Savior is an empty shell, a vacuum that inevitably seeks power. And in His Dark Materials, the absence of Jesus is strikingly conspicuous even though he is never named. Pullman told Williams in 2004 that Jesus does not exist in the realm of his Magisterium, an acknowledgement that his church offers no redemption and is only an organization of human power. And in a world where the church controls the government, it is hardly a fantasy that the human authorities use religious manipulation to cement their control.

"The New Testament has a fair amount to say about structuring the church so that it supports the goal of pointing its people to Christ and it describes a church body with dispersed power. Without Christ at the head, the church is a slave to sin instead of proclaiming its purpose: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1)."

John Dickson was on ABC’s Q&A program in 2013. Watch it here.
Justin Barrett has written a research paper on Why Santa Claus is not a God. Check it out here.
Read A.C Grayling’s attack on Professor Justin Barrett in The Guardian here (from 2008)
And then read Professor Barrett’s response.
Watch the Centre For Public Christianity’s interview with Olivera Petrovich

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

28. Discordant Religion

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 05:00:00 +1100

In Episode 28 (Creation's Music) we spoke with Jeremy Begbie and Kirsty Beilharz about how music can point us to God. But what if it's music we just don't like? What about music that's genuinely bad. Or dissonant. What is the purpose of that type of music? Can music that's really hard to listen to still point us to the divine?

Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor, publishers of How to Talk about Jesus (without being that guy) by Sam Chan.

LINKS:

Find out more about our guest Professor Dr Jeremy Begbie here.
Find out more about our guest Professor Dr Kirsty Beilharz here.
Seek out Jeremy Begbie's book Theology, Music and Time.
Get your hands on Kirsty Beilharz's book Music Remembers Me: Connection and Wellbeing in Dementia.
Listen to 20th century composer Arnold Schoenberg's works on Spotify. Jeremy Begbie talks about Schoenberg and his creation of new methods of musical composition involving atonality.
Kirsty talks about 20th century composer Olivier Messiaen. This is a great article about his 'Turangalîla-Symphonie', from NPR: Finding God, Love And The Meaning Of Life In Messiaen's 'Turangalîla-Symphonie'
Listen to more of Olivier Messiaen on Spotify, too.
And another insightful article, this time from The Guardian on Messiaen's 'Quartet for the End of Time', which he composed while in a Nazi concentration camp.
Check out this live recording of Handel's Messiah from early this year, by the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, performed at the Sydney Opera House.
And here's some more history about Handel's Messiah from the Smithsonian Magazine.
Read more about Luther and Calvin's approach to music.
Jeremy Begbie says Oscar Peterson can move him to tears. Let it move you. Listen on Spotify, here. Also, Brahms (here).
Kirsty Beilharz went through the Life of Jesus course as she wrestled with Christianity. Check out that course, here. (Pssst... it's a John Dickson course!)

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

27. Creation's Music

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:02:00 +1100

What is music and what is it about music that stirs the human soul?

Is it just a series of sound waves producing neurological responses … or could music be - as so many ancients believed - a signal from God?

Join us for this episode as we take a look at the enduring love affair between music and the human heart.

Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor, publishers of Evangelical Theology by Michael F Bird.

LINKS:

Find out more about our guest Professor Dr Jeremy Begbie here.
Find out more about our guest Professor Dr Kirsty Beilharz here.
Check out this interview Professor Begbie did with Christianity Today in 2018, about Christian artists and their need for a firm grounding in Scripture.
Read more about the conundrum of consciousness here.
Seek out Jeremy Begbie's book Theology, Music and Time.
Want to start listening to St Matthew Passion but don't know where to start? Check out this helpful guide from NPR (America's National Public Radio).
Get your hands on Kirsty Beilharz's book Music Remembers Me: Connection and Wellbeing in Dementia.
Kirsty spoke to Eternity News in 2016 about dementia care and music. Read the article here.
Do Mark Hadley a favour and read The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Centre For Public Christianity fellow Barney Zwartz wrote this piece for the Sydney Morning Herald, titled 'The power of music is a path to God'.
Read the story of AN Wilson's conversion back to Christianity in The New Statesman, where he says "The existence of langauge is one of the many phenomena - of which love and music are the two strongest - which suggest that human beings are very much more than collections of meat. They convince me that we are spiritual beings, and that the religion of the incarnation, asserting that God made humanity in His image, and continually restores humanity in His image, is simply true."
From this episode's 5 Minute Jesus, read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

26. Good Earth

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 05:00:00 +1100

Whether you’re a believer or doubter in Christianity, this episode is really more about whether you’re a ‘believer’ or ‘doubter’ in climate change … and the things that often lie behind such beliefs (hint: faith is just one factor!)

But, if you listen to Katharine, climate change shouldn’t be about belief anymore. It’s real. It’s happening. The question now is, what can we do about it?

Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor, publishers of How To Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby.

LINKS

Meet Katharine Hayhoe over on her website.
Watch Katharine’s 2018 TedTalk (along with the 3.6 million other people!)
Check out Rolling Stone magazine’s conversation with Katharine
And also ... the New York Times profile of Katharine
Read the press release from the United Nations, announcing it has named Katharine Hayhoe a UN Champion of the Earth
Here's the Pew Research from 2015 that found only a third of white evangelical protestants believed climate change was the result of human activity.
Read more on AOC’s talk with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates where she said millennials were frustrated with inaction on climate change and said “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change, and your biggest issue is how we are going to pay for it?”
Ever watched The Newsroom? You totally should. Here’s a link to the series.
Read the New York Times 2013 report when the world passed 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Then, read this report from the 360 Environment 360 Magazine which explains in an easily understandable why such a carbon threshold matters.
Here’s the link to the full Sky News interview with environmentalist Michael Shellenberger, that we excerpted in this episode.
More on the Gospers Mountain fire in New South Wales
While you're at it, here's more data from Australia’s 2019/20 bushfire season
More on California’s devastating wildfire season in 2020. This report from October 25 suggests this week is expected to have the most perilous fire weather event for the season.
Then read this Washington Post interactive report on what is fueling the West Coast’s infernos.
Get Lynn White’s 1967 article in the Science Journal: The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis
Read James Bhagwan’s opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald from 2019, titled A climate plea to Scott Morrison from a churchman of the Pacific’s sinking nations
- “I want to remind Scott Morrison that for the people of Tuvalu – and Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands, and all the other Pacific Island Nations – nothing worries us more than climate change,” he writes.
Read more about the island of Kiribati in the Pacific, and the immediate threat of rising sea levels.
Check out Skeptical Science website run by John Cook

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

25. Bible Mistakes

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:38:13 +1100

In the first episode of our third season, we're taking a close look at the New Testament - the second part of the Bible. Many scholars have pointed out historical inaccuracies in the gospels, or inconsistencies between the gospels that would surely call into question their reliability as sources for the historical Jesus. Some have suggested that the gospels weren't actually written by who we think they were written by. Or claim that many of the letters written by Paul that appear in the Bible weren't penned by Paul at all.

Professor Craig Blomberg has spent a lifetime digging around these 'Bible mistakes'. And he's not convinced that they are, in fact, mistakes.

LINKS

For more on Professor Craig Blomberg, check out his website.
And while you're clicking, have a look at Undeceptions.com for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world.
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor, publishers of the Collected Essays of N.T. Wright.
Read more about the famous 'Wicked Bible' in this Washington Post article.
Grab Craig Blomberg's latest book, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament, here.
Other scholars who have written about the Book of John: Martin Hengel and Richard Bauckham.
Episode 7 of Undeceptions, called Gospel Truth with Peter Williams is a good sister-podcast for this one. Check it out.
Read Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus by Donald Harman Akenson (mentioned in this episode's 5 Minute Jesus)

Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

Introducing Season 3 of Undeceptions

Undeceptions Ltd — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 14:47:00 +1100

We're back with a new season of Undeceptions. Join us as we chase down facts and explore the best arguments, to explode some of the myths about history, science, psychology, and the good life … and how it all relates to the Christian faith. This season, we're talking climate change, public health, why belief in God is natural, how music points to the divine, mistakes in the Bible, and … the end of the world.

Tax Free Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 00:01:00 +1100

John Dickson takes a deep dive into the murky world of church finances to discover the pagan ruler responsible for granting Christian congregations their special financial privileges.

When the most powerful man in the world becomes a believer, things are definitely going to change.

But what did this ruler actually have in mind when he gifted churches and clergy their tax free status? Press play to find out.

Confederate Statues Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 00:01:00 +1000

Dr. Laurel Moffatt makes a return to Undeceptions with a single aimed at making us consider the level of our indifference.

The Black Lives Matter campaign has focussed America's attention on statues that commemorate the great military leaders and politicians of the slave-supporting Confederacy.

Should these symbols be taken down and our values rebuilt? Or would that leave a greater human failure still standing?

Indigenous Slaves Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 00:01:00 +1000

Matt Andrews makes a guest appearance on Undeceptions, tackling the thorny topic of slavery in Australia.

Have Aboriginals been enslaved at various times in Australia's history? Certainly. Was that the intention of its British leaders? Certainly not.

There are two key things to undeceived of here, but you'l have to click play to find out what they are.

Medieval Manumission Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 00:01:00 +1000

Eligius of Noyon was a French jewellery smith of uncommon talent who counted royal families and the highest nobility amongst his clients. As a young man, his success allowed him to dress so exorbitantly, his sense of luxury made it into the history books.

However when Eligius' attention turned from kingly clients to the Kingdom of God, an incredible transformation took place. He became so concerned for the slaves around him, that his finery became the means for setting them free.

In this fourth single on the hidden Christian history of slavery, John Dickson shares how Eligius impoverished himself so that others might know the grace of God.

Freeing Slaves Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 00:01:00 +1000

St. Augustine was the Bishop of Hippo and the leader of the Christian church in a city that had become a hub in the ancient world's slave trade.

He led his followers in an ambitious buy-back program for those captured by unscrupulous traders. But when church funds failed, these meek and mild believers didn't hold back from carrying out dangerous slave raids.

Join John Dickson as he takes us through a first hand account of what early Christians risked to save less fortunate men and women.

First Abolitionist Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 00:01:00 +1000

The fourth century bishop, Gregory of Nyssa, led the charge on ending slavery centuries before modern champions like William Wilberforce and Frederick Douglass ever stepped on to the stage.

His arguments regarding the value of human beings would fuel abolitionists and civil rights movements fifteen hundred years after he was dead.

If only we'd listened sooner.

Swing Low Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:01:00 +1000

John Dickson delves into the history of the abolition of slavery in the 19th century and discovers its deep roots in Christian theology.

His investigations reveal secular claims that Christianity was a leading cause of slavery are without foundation. In fact, the campaign for freedom arose from a distinctly Christian world view that had existed for well over a thousand years.

Yet the church could clearly have done a lot more, a lot sooner.

Paddling Through Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:01:00 +1000

Dr. Laurel Moffatt is a writer and researcher based in Sydney, and a special guest for our Undeceptions 'Single' this week.

On a recent kayaking trip, she discovered a connection between our desperate need for 'places of safety' during this pandemic, and international statistics that show a growing desire to communicate with the Almighty.

Leveraging the wisdom of Augustine, she shares how prayer can become your safest place.

Eternal Adieu Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 14:30:00 +1000

A remarkable event occurred on this day at 11:30am, 25 June, 1788. The 21 year old convict, Samuel Peyton, entered into eternity courtesy of the hangman's noose.

But unlike many of his convict comrades who suffered a similar fate, Peyton left behind a testament to his belief that, even in death, he was “firmly relying on the merits of a Blessed Redeemer.”

Listen in for one of the most heartfelt stories of repentance Australia's colonial history has to offer, as well as a pointer to a Christian hope that still holds true today.

24. LGBTI Christian

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +1000

Rachel Gilson says she grew up knowing two things instinctively: she was romantically attracted to women and Christians were NOT ok with that.

Smart, sophisticated, with a love for big ideas not small minds … Rachel Gilson sounds like she’s the poster girl for that common critique of Christianity - that it’s unhelpful and unhealthy for those with lesbian, gay, or bisexual orientations. But that is not her story.

Rachel discovered that it was possible to walk a round that led between her same-sex attraction and a love of God. Her conclusions, including her life choices will surprise you.

Yet Rachel’s quest to understand God and His opinion of her desires provide one of the most provocative, interesting and inspiring stories Undeceptions has had privilege to present.

LINKS

For more on Rachel Gilson, check out her web site.
And while you're clicking, have a look at the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
Undeceptions would like to encourage you to check out Zondervan Academic's latest publication, Collected Essays of N.T. Wright, 3: volumes: Interpreting Scripture, Interpreting Jesus, and Interpreting Paul
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the Life In Wartime podcast with David Robertson and Stephen McAlpine.
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

23. Ask Anything II

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 May 2020 09:00:00 +1000

The end of the second season of Undeceptions is drawing night, so it's time to start unpacking all of the questions we've collected.

This episode John Dickson tackles everything from is the Old Testament History to is the New Testament a re-write of Jesus' real perspective?

If you enjoy listening to hosts squirm, you'll love season's two's Undeceptions Q and A.

LINKS

Both atheistic evolutionists and literalistic creationists want you to read Genesis the same way, but is there a different take on the foundational book of the Bible? John asks Professor C. John Collins, Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, in the Undeceptions episode Six Days.
Undeceptions brings to life the forgotten women of the early church so we can learn just how significant the fairer sex were for the spread of the Gospel with international expert Dr. Lynn Cohick in our episode Remembering Women.
Studies continue to show that most people have a fairly positive view of the founder of Christianity. But that’s a long way from accepting that there’s any history - let alone relevance - in the alleged events of Easter. John tackles the top questions in Easter Myths.
While you're clicking, have a look at the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
We encourage you to especially check out Zondervan's new book, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity by John Lennox.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the Life In Wartime podcast with David Robertson and Stephen McAlpine.
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

22. Remembering Women

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 +1000

This episode, we’ll be zooming in on the early Christian women, for whom we have good evidence, and who had a profound impact on the church and its teaching in their time.

Our guide is Dr. Lynn Cohick, who's written books on the topic, including Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through the Fifth Centuries (co-authored with Amy Brown Hughes) and Women in the World of the Earliest Christians.

She paints a vivid picture for us of what life in ancient Rome might have been like for the first women to hear the gospel.

LINKS

For more on Dr. Lynn Cohick, check out her web site.
And while you're clicking, have a look at the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the With All Due Respect podcast with Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

21. Post Christian

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 +1000

Greg Sheridan cut his teeth at the legendary news magazine, The Bulletin, before moving on to the national daily newspaper, The Australian, where he’s been the foreign editor since 1982.

John catches up to talk to him about Christianity's struggles in Australia and why, of all times, he would choose to out himself as a believer.

However, Greg is not so glum on the future and underlines that because the faith is beholden to no particular political party it has the ability to reinvent itself that is more inline with its roots.

LINKS

For more on Greg Sheridan, check out his web page at The Australian
Check out the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the Salt podcast with Jenny Salt
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

20. Miraculous Physics

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:00:00 +1000

Ian Hutchinson is Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Among many, many other things he wrote the standard monograph on measuring plasmas, Principles of Plasma Diagnostics. That's right, he literally wrote the book on plasmas.

He’s also a fellow of the American Physical Society, a fellow of the Institute of Physics, and of the American Scientific Affiliation.

And… he believes in miracles - healing, resurrection, all of it.

Find out why.

LINKS

For more on Professor Ian Hutchinson, check out his web site.
Check out his book, Can A Scientist Believe In Miracles? by Ian Hutchinson
And while you're clicking, have a look at the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the With All Due Respect podcast with Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

19. Scientific Theology

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +1000

It’s a popular misconception. If science is your guiding light, you’re going to see the world a particular way. And if you hold to religion well, you’re going to imagine the world a particular way. At least that’s how it seems.

But Alister McGrath is the Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University, and he makes a pretty convincing case that, while science and religion are fundamentally different, they remain complementary.

So what does Alister do with the all the objections scientists throw at him? Play them back with a perfectly straight British bat. Tune in and tally the score for yourself!

LINKS

For more on Dr. Alister McGrath, check out his web site.
Check out the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the With All Due Respect podcast with Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

18. Confronting Christianity

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +1000

Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin is a learned, feisty academic who's not afraid to confront the challenge that this two thousand year old faith has run its course.

Claims of institutionalised homophobia, that religion is bad for us, and scare tactics surrounding the teaching of Hell - they all surface in this episode.

Faced with the most challenging questions of the day, Dr. McLaughlin offers a spirited defence of Christianity that John Dickson thinks amounts to the best answer to troubling questions since Tim Keller's Reasons For God.

LINKS

For more on Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin, check out her web site.
Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard questions for the World's Largest Religion, by Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin
Check out the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the With All Due Respect podcast with Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

17. Hindu Priest

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +1000

What do you do if you devote your entire life to one religion, then slowly realise you belong somewhere else?

This episode isn’t an exploration of a forgotten piece of history, a tricky topic, or an ethical dilemma, but a story, plain and simple about a search for personal peace, which is just what our anxious world needs right now.

Rahil Patel was one of the Hindu world's leading evangelists, who spent decades establishing temples all over Europe and Russia, until one day he woke up to discover that his heart belonged to someone else.

LINKS

Rahil Patel's web site
Found By Love: A Hindu Priest Encounters Jesus Christ, by Rahil Patel
Check out the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the Salt podcast with Jenny Salt
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

16. Easter Myths

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +1000

It’s Easter, and billions of people pause to contemplate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Alongside them are plenty of folks who look at Christ quite differently.

Studies continue to show that most people have a fairly positive view of the founder of Christianity. But that’s a long way from accepting that there’s any history - let alone relevance - in the alleged events of Easter.

We had a lot of fun looking at the Christmas Story through the lens of history. We thought it would be good to do the same for Easter. Bring on all of your questions about the historical authenticity of this central Christian celebration, and listen to what happens when they collide with the evidence of history.

LINKS

Check out the Undeceptions web site for all sorts of cool stuff related to undeceiving the world
Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
Click here to listen to the FULL interview with Dr. Chris Forbes, courtesy of The Centre for Public Christianity
You can click here to sign up for the With All Due Respect podcast with Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

Pandemic Exposure Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +1100

In ancient Carthage, those who faced the Cyprian Plague discovered that there were two sets of symptoms to contend with: those that afflicted the outer body, and those that afflicted the inner person.

COVID-19 is having a similar effect. It is turning out to be not just a physical trial but a moral test.

The pandemic is revealing the best and the worst of our characters. The former we can celebrate together. Our faults, though, are also worth our contemplation.

15. She Persuades

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +1100

If you’re preparing yourself for an assault on conservative Christian doctrine regarding women in church leadership, or different approaches to women teaching … you’re going to be disappointed.

This is an episode about a more fundamental ‘deception’ the western world seems to hold: that Christianity places no value on the contribution of women, or offers them any pride of place.

However, Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing is the Joint Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and the counter to that claim.

She is an academic, world-traveller, social media queen, and born persuader who is gaining significant influence in Britain and Europe as she advocates for the Gospel.

LINKS

Special thanks to Zondervan Academic, our show sponsor
Find out more about Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries
The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
The Salt podcast by Jenny Salt
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

Pandemic Equality Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +1100

Church leaders and impassioned Christians want to suggest that the Bible promises a special deliverance from COVID-19 for those who put their faith in the Son of God. However John Dickson resurrects the wisdom of an ancient bishop who also faced a massive plague to give us a different perspective.

14. Six Days

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +1100

Last season we brought you John Lennox, talking about the compatibility of faith and a scientific mind, and Ard Louis discussing the evidence for a rational universe … but we sidestepped one obvious debate.

Creation versus evolution - 6 days versus 13.8 billion years - young earthers vs. ancient universe-ers.

It’s a pretty hot argument in the minds of some believers and non-believers alike. Sometimes both sides think there’s only one way to take Genesis, and that’s at face value.

This episode, though, we talk to Professor C. John Collins, Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, who suggests there's another way that honours both the message and the intellect.

LINKS

Find out more about C. John 'Jack' Collins at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1-11, by C. John Collins
How To Follow Jesus, by Craig Springer
Zondervan Academic
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
Want to send John Dickson a question? He loves them. Just click here to provide a query for our next Q and A show!
Undeceptions is part of the Eternity Podcast Network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today.

Pandemic Love Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +1100

Simply taking care of yourself and those closest to you might seem enough - even the most important thing - at this time of international concern. But John Dickson picks out the story of a wealthy, ancient woman to suggest another way. Rome's Fabiola powerfully demonstrated the level of sympathy that hearts changed by Christ can hope to rise to.

13. It's Cancer

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +1100

In this episode we’re delving into that frightening world.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death internationally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million fatalities in 2018 - that’s 1 in 6 deaths. Cancer is an undiscriminating disease. It can appear in almost any part of the body, and any age group. Each year, 300,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in children alone. And the costs for those who can pay for treatments and preventative measures are staggering - cancer costs the world economy 1.16 trillion US dollars a year.

But cancer isn’t just a medical battleground, it’s a spiritual one as well. Through the ages, myriad human voices have cried out, “My God, why!?" How do people who reckon there is some kind of good God in the world - which surveys say is most human beings - cope with cancer in the world? Meet Ben Shaw and his wife Karen who heard those two words in the title, and the epic faith journey they travelled together.

LINKS

Find out more about Ben Shaw through his page at The Boathouse Church, Putney
This episode is brought to you by Zondervan Academic and its new book The New Testament in Its World by N. T. Wright and Michael Bird
A special just for Undeceptions listeners! Get free access to Zondervan Academic's Master Lectures for 14 days, and then save 25% for the next 6 months. Just type in the code UNDECEPTIONS at the check-out.
Ridley College, where John lectures in Public Christianity
The podcast Salt (conversations with Jenny Salt) is available on The Eternity Podcast Network

It's almost here!

Undeceptions Ltd — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +1100

The return of Undeceptions for 2020, kicking off with God and cancer, a better way of reading Genesis, woman leading the charge in explaining Christianity, Easter myths exploded and proof the faith you grow up with isn't the final word on what you believe. Plus much, much more! Let the Undeceptions begin... Monday, March 16.

First Church Service Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +1100

It's February 4, and the anniversary of Australia's first church service. But this wasn't a morality lesson from the chaplain to the prison colony. The Rev. Richard Johnson had something much more significant on his mind.

Australia Day Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +1100

On the day we commemorate the history and character of our nation, it may be worth considering how we build healthy, respectful lamenting into our national celebrations.

Christmas Single

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 15:00:00 +1100

This Christmas, as you rightly enjoy the good things God's given you and share them with your nearest and dearest, spare a moment to consider how your generosity might spread further afield.

Links that might prove helpful:

BONUS Undeceptions Theme

Undeceptions Ltd — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 18:10:00 +1100

Thanks for being great supporters of the first season of Undeceptions! We hope you enjoy this little gift from us, and have a happy Christmas with your loved ones and the God who made this all possible.

Yours in all truth,

John, Kaley, Bella and Mark

12. First Noel

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 14:00:00 +1100

Jesus was born in a manger, right? But what does that mean exactly? And how about that inn? Or the star hovering over the stable? How does history address our most cherished images of the birth of the King of Kings? And what did The Life Of Brian get right? Join John as he undeceives us about everything that can and can't be said about the birth of Jesus.

Thanks to our season sponsor – Selah – for all your travel needs, whether you’re a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:

Read John's Nativity Naivete for an account of how the 'Quirinius problem' is resolved by historians, as well as many other common misconceptions about supposed historical problems in the Christmas story.
For a more general summary of the historical truths of the Christmas story, there's Truth In The Story Of Christmas
For those wanting to dig deeper into the historical evidence for Jesus' existence, John also wrote this reply to an assertion that the baby in a manger wasn't a real person for ABC Religion & Ethics.
And since it's that time of year, you might also want to have a look at John's article, Halloween Vs. Christmas, discussing the historical basis for both.

Send us a question

Oh boy, does John love questions. So don’t be afraid to send them in. In season one, we’ll be dedicating an episode or two for John to answer all your burning questions about Christianity. Want to know something more about a previous episode? Or perhaps you’ve got a question about faith that you’ve been struggling to find an answer for? Let us know here, or leave your question as a voicemail at 02 9870 5678.

11. Question Answer I

Undeceptions Ltd — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 14:00:00 +1100

Each week of our first season of Undeceptions, we've asked you to tell us some of the things you'd like to be 'undeceived' about. This episode John Dickson tackles the top questions sent in, covering everything from questions raised by our various guests to crackers you've come up with on your own.

Press play to hear more about whether Islam actually invented science, why historians still reject the idea of a resurrection, and what the difference is between New Testament and Old Testament Miracles. Plus West Wing references and Jesus own 'top questions' to ask!

Thanks to our season sponsor - Selah - for all your travel needs, whether you're a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:
Curiosity aroused by others' questions? Easy links to...

- Episode 1 - Old Papers, with Brendan Haug
- Episode 2 - Football Free, with the Greenbay Packers
- Episode 6 - Rational Universe, with Ard Louis
- Episode 7 - Gospel Truth, with Peter Williams
John refer's to the 'post hoc ergo proctor hoc' fallacy. Did he leave you in the dust? Here's a video that explains the idea
But if you'd prefer Jed Bartlett to explain it to you, you can find it here

And check out the beautiful new Undeceptions web site!

Want to send John a question for our next Q and A? Here's the place to do it!

Send us a question

10. Historical Jesus

Eternity News — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 14:00:00 +1100

This episode, we've put John Dickson in the hot seat to talk about his new book: Is Jesus History. Anita Savage is our guest host, and she grills John on one of the greatest questions out there: did Jesus really exist?

Thanks to our season sponsor - Selah - for all your travel needs, whether you're a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:

Get John Dickson's latest book Is Jesus History?
Read more about the supposed 'lost tomb of Jesus' in this CNN report. And watch James Cameron's documentary here.
Read more about the 'lost gospel of Judas' from the National Geographic Society.
Jeffrey Archer's fiction book, The Gospel According to Judas
After The Da Vinci Code, John Dickson wrote several articles responding to some of the conspiracies theories that surrounded the book and the life of Jesus. Here's one of them on The Secret Gospels.
Read the article from Time Magazine listing Jesus as the most influential person of all time.
In Episode 7 of Undeceptions, John interviewed Peter Williams, author of Can We Trust the Gospels. You should definitely go back and listen to that episode if you enjoyed this one!

Get to know our guest host

Anita Savage is a TV and radio journalist who has worked for 2UE, Sky News, Channel 9, Bloomberg Television and ABC TV and radio. In 2019, Anita joined the Hope Media team to lead the new Hope Media News Service. She joins us for this episode of Undeceptions as guest host, interviewing John Dickson.

Send us a question

9. Dominus Illuminatio

Eternity News — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 15:00:00 +1100

When Sarah first arrived at Cambridge on a scholarship, and then later took a job at Oxford, she thought Christians were anti-intellectual.

And perhaps that’s what we’ve come to expect. Smart people have no time - no headspace - for God. They know too much. They think too deeply for the ‘shallows’ of theology.

This episode, we’re talking with people who’ve witnessed the opposite. Universities like Oxford and Cambridge are melting pots, where people can find their beliefs - or unbelief - turned upside down, just like Sarah.

Thanks to our season sponsor - Selah - for all your travel needs, whether you're a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:

Read more of Sarah's conversion to Christianity during her studies here.
Check out Vaughan Robert's ministry at St Ebbe's in Oxford.
Read Peter Harrison's The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science
Find out more about philosopher Peter Singer
John Dickson's 5 minute Jesus in this episode is all about Christianity and the Apostles' Creed. Learn more about the creed here.
Read more about CS Lewis' conversion to Christianity while at Oxford
Get GK Chesterton's book The Everlasting Man
More on Oxford banning the Christian Union at Fresher's Week in 2017

Get to know our guests

Dr Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is senior lecturer in Modern European History at Western Sydney University. She was awarded a PhD in History from Cambridge University in 2007.

Vaughan Roberts is Rector of St Ebbe's Church in Oxford. He studied law at Cambridge University and theology at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford before entering ministry. Roberts is also Director of the Proclamation Trust, an organisation that encourages and equips Bible teachers. He is a popular conference speaker and author of several books.

Send us a question

The full Teresa Morgan interview

Eternity News — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 14:15:00 +1100

In episode 4 of Season 1 of Undeceptions, John spoke with Professor Teresa Morgan about the ethic of love at the heart of the New Testament. It sounds like ‘common sense’ to many today – it’s what any rational person would think about the good life. But it certainly wasn’t ‘rational’ in the Roman world, and it hasn’t been for most of world history. Listen to the full interview with Professor Morgan, a Fellow and tutor at Oriel College in Oxford University in this special bonus episode. You'll get more insight on how radically Christianity changed the moral values of the ancient world … and how we continue to see the results today.

The full John Lennox interview

Eternity News — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +1100

Head to undeceptions.com to listen to Episode 3, 'God Science' with John Lennox.

8. Cybersex Trafficking

Eternity News — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 14:00:00 +1100

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains content that may be distressing for some listeners. The episode deals with the online sexual exploitation of children and is confronting and often disturbing. If you need to talk to someone, support is available:

1800RESPECT: In Australia, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 737 732.

Lifeline: Call 13 11 14 anytime for confidential telephone crisis support.

This episode of Undeceptions was a difficult one for us to make. But we believe it's an important one. It's a myth that there's no such thing as slavery in modern times. And just as Christians were at the forefront of anti-slavery work way back in the 5th century, and again in the 19th century, we’ll be speaking to today’s heroes, continuing that tradition, fighting for the absolute end of slavery in their lifetime.

We've worked with International Justice Mission - the largest anti-slavery organisation in the world - to bring you the story of Cassie in the Philippines. Cassie was rescued from a neighbour who had lured her into a world of online sexual exploitation. We speak with some of those who worked to see her released from slavery, and who continue to work to rescue countless other victims both in the Philippines and other parts of south east Asia, the epicentre of this heinous crime.

Thanks to our season sponsor - Selah - for all your travel needs, whether you're a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:

International Justice Mission works with law enforcement, including the Australian Federal Police, to tackle the online sexual exploitation of children. Read more about the AFP's involvement in the Philippines here and the first Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre - a collective law enforcement effort to combat child exploitation.
And read this article from Reuters on the new taskforce and its impact so far.
Read more about Shechem House, the first IJM assessment centre for children rescued from abuse.
Watch this 20-minute documentary from IJM: How one survivor of sex trafficking is sparking a global movement to end slavery in our lifetime.
Read this fact sheet from IJM on child sexual exploitation in the Philippines.

Get to know our guests

Caroly Houmes is Chief Executive of International Justice Mission (IJM) in Australia, and was previously executive director of IJM in the Netherlands. An experienced legal professional, Caroly as a Masters in International and European Human Rights Law.

Jacob Sarkodee leads IJM's operations team and has over 10 years experience in the international aid and development sector in Australia.

Glenn De Guzman is a pastor currently serving in the Philippines as IJM's Church Partnerships Manager and spends most of his time inviting church leaders and faith-based organisations to participate in the fight against online sexual exploitation of children. Glenn actively seeks ways for the Church to move the Philippine government to a more effective criminal justice system by creating public demand for accountability, mobilising prayer groups and raising volunteer support.

Rev Stephen Gualberto (also known as Pastor Bong) is the senior pastor of GMA Church of the Nazarene in the Philippines. Pastor Bong led the Church of the Nazarene as they established the first IJM assessment centre for children rescued from online sexual exploitation. Shechem Children's Home opened its doors on September 8, 2018.

Send us a question

7. Gospel Truth

Eternity News — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 14:00:00 +1100

In episode 7 we ask: can we really trust the Gospels in the Bible? And how do the gospels - considered our best evidence for the existence of Jesus - stack up against the evidence for other historical figures of the day?

John Dickson chats with Dr Peter Williams, the author of Can We Trust the Gospels? about how solid our sources for Jesus really are. Many would say they're not as solid as, say, sources for the Emperor Tiberius, the second Roman emperor who reigned from 14 AD to 37 AD during the time it is said that Jesus lived. But Dr Williams may just change your mind...

The necklace that John wears around his neck: a coin from the reign of Emperor Tiberius.

Thanks to our season sponsor - Selah - for all your travel needs, whether you're a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:

Get Dr Peter Williams' book Can We Trust the Gospels? here.
Check out the full Twitter thread of Peter's satirical attempt to discredit Emperor Tiberius.
Watch more of the interview John conducted with Professor Richard Bauckham for The Christ Files documentary in 2008.
Dig into Tacitus' Annals here. Tacitus was a Roman aristocrat and government official writing about 80 years after Tiberius. His Annals of imperial Rome are universally regarded as the best historical source for the period.
Find out more about the works of Suetonius, a Roman biographer writing shortly after Tacitus.
Learn more about Cassius Dio. And the "Tiberius fan boy" Velleius Paterculus
Want more on Pliny the Elder? Here's some background.
Watch a 2013 lecture Dr Peter Williams gave at The Veritas Forum at the University of North Carolina - Bible: Fact or Fiction?
For more on undesigned coincidences, Lydia McGrew has written Hidden in plain view - Undesigned coincidences in the Gospels and Acts
Catch up on our very first episode, Old Papers which helps answer the question of how we can be confident that what we read in the Bible today is what was originally written.
Learn more about Erasmus, who worked on a really important copy of the Green New Testament in 1516. This article is all about 500 Years of Erasmus' New Testament, from our friends at the University of Michigan.

Get to know our guests

Dr Peter Williams

Dr Peter Williams is principal of Tyndale House, a Cambridge-based research institute housing one of the worlds' most advanced libraries for biblical scholarship. He is also the chair of the International Greek New Testament Project which is currently producing the world’s most comprehensive information on the manuscripts of John’s Gospel. He is also a lecturer of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge.

He has spoken in churches, universities, seminaries, high schools and at conferences and seminars/workshops across the US and the world on Biblical subjects including Bible translation, apologetics, and how to understand the Scriptures.

Dr Williams is the author of several books, including his most recent published at the end of 2018: Can we trust the gospels?

Send us a question

6. Rational Universe

Eternity News — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 14:00:00 +1100

Professor Ard Louis is one of the world's leading theoretical physicists. He sat down with John Dickson to talk about why he fervently believes that we don't need to prove God exists.

Ard is serious in his quest to have a coherent system that makes some sense of the world. It’s what he gets out of bed to discover every day. And he's not afraid that the more he discovers, the less he'll need God. Quite the opposite:

"Science is one of the parts of the world that actually increases the likelihood of God being there," he says.

Thanks to our season sponsor - Selah - for all your travel needs, whether you're a doubter or a believer. Find out more at myselah.com.au.

Links related to this episode:

Watch the Why Are We Here documentary that Ard Louis helped create.
Check out Morgan Freeman's documentary series The Story of God. He interviews Ard Louis in the episode called 'Proof of God'.
Read Simon Conway Morris' book Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe
Watch the full interview from Centre For Public Christianity with Simon Conway Morris on evolution, convergence and a purposeful universe.
Read more about Sir Fred Hoyle, the man who made famous the 'tornado in the junkyard' analogy.
Check out this article by science historian Peter Harrison on The Reformation and the Rise of Science
Watch Ard Louis talk more about evolution and intelligent design.

Get to know our guests

Ard Louis is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford where he leads an interdisciplinary research group studying problems on the border between chemistry, physics and biology. From 2002 to 2010 he was a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. He is also an associate of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.

He also has a keen interest in molecular gastronomy, applying science to the art of cooking.

On a lighter note, Ard says in his bio, his Erdos-Bacon number is 6. "I have an Erdos number of 4 through Jonathan Doye and I have a Bacon number of 2 through Morgan Freeman."

Send us a question

5. Social Capital

Eternity News — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:15:00 +1000

Andrew Leigh thinks Australia is disconnected, and he’s written a book about it. In Disconnected, Andrew spends a whole chapter outlining why the decline of religion is making social cohesion worse, and the benefits to society of having more religious believers.

"I just had a cracking conversation with Australia’s ‘social capital’ expert Dr Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fenner and Shadow Assistant Minister for Charities. We explored the sad decline of community connectedness in Australia, the remarkable effect church attendance has on volunteering and philanthropy in this country (for secular as well as religious causes), the logic of seeing ‘advancing religion’ as a genuine charitable cause, and the importance of street parties for your neighbourhood!" -- John Dickson

To be clear, Andrew says in his book that he’s an atheist. That made John Dickson want to speak to him more.

While Andrew can’t sign on to the churches’ theological views, he can see the good that religion does in society. And he’s done a bucket load of research to prove it.

Links related to this episode:

Listen to Andrew Leigh's podcast The Good Life.
A social capital primer from social capital expert Robert Putnam.
Check out the photo of Andrew and his family that John mentions in the episode.
Get Andrew's book, Disconnected.
Check out some of Robert Putnam's books, also mentioned in this episode: American Grace (2012); Better Together (2004)
More on Andrew's updated research on Australia's social connections:

With OmniPoll, I've just updated data on how many friends Australians have & how well we know our neighbours. The trend in "Disconnected" seems to be worsening. Lanai Scarr writes it up in today's press: https://t.co/hcKMJslYAd #Reconnected #SocialCapital #auspol @RobertDPutnam pic.twitter.com/aqlbJo2czs

— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) July 2, 2018

Read the Sydney Morning Herald article that outlines more of Andrew's research: "Loneliness is a problem we can only tackle together."
Organise a street party! Here's some tips from Andrew Leigh, including a template invitation.
Neighbour Day -- it's a thing. Relationships Australia is encouraging people to get together with their neighbours on Neighbour Day, which they have declared as Sunday 29 March 2020. There's a bunch of resources to help you get started connecting with your neighbours, here.
Why not consider giving blood. Find out how (it's really easy ... and remember the snacks!) here.
Read Alain De Botton's Religion for Atheists
Read this article from Centre For Public Christianity's Natasha Moore about churches and tax exemptions (which also gives a shout out to our 'phone a friend' guest this episode, Anne Robinson).
Meet Anne Robinson, who gave us a rundown on churches and tax.
Curious about charities and the category of 'Advancing religion'. Head to the ACNC website to find out more.
Read the parable of The Good Samaritan.

Get to know our guests

Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.

His books include Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), The Luck of Politics (2015), Choosing Openness: Why Global Engagement is Best for Australia (2017) and Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World (2018). Andrew is a keen marathon runner, and hosts a podcast titled "The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation", which is available on Apple Podcasts.

Send us a question

4. Moral Classics

Eternity News — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:05:00 +1000

The ethic of love at the heart of the New Testament sounds like ‘common sense’ to many today - it’s what any rational person would think about the good life.

But it certainly wasn’t ‘rational’ in the Roman world, and it hasn’t been for most of world history.

In episode four of Undeceptions, John Dickson speaks with Teresa Morgan, a professor of Graeco-Roman History at Oriel College, Oxford University about what life was like for the average person living on the outskirts of Rome at the time of Jesus. What did they believe and what shaped their ideas of the 'good life'. And how did the arrival of Jesus change everything?

Links related to this episode:

Check out Professor Morgan's books Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches (2015) and Popular Morality in the Early Roman Empire (2007)
Professor Morgan was in Australia earlier at University of New England to give the Keynote Lecture at the 2019 ASCS (Australasian Society for Classical Studies) Conference. Watch that address here.
Find out more about Oriel College.
Some of Aesop's Fables have been made into a series for children on the BBC. Listen here.
More on Zeus, Demeter.
More on Turtullian.
More on Emperor Constantine.
Watch John Dickson in Centre For Public Christianity's documentary For The Love of God. In episode 1, John talks about Christianity's radical ethic of non-violence and 'loving your enemies'.
If it's been a while, you should definitely take a look at the New Testament of the Bible, here.

Get to know our guest

Professor Teresa Morgan has been a Fellow and Tutor at Oriel College in Oxford University since 2000, having studied classics at Cambridge, Theology at Oxford, and violin and viola at the Royal Academy of Music. She teaches and writes on Greek and Roman history from the eighth century BCE to the Byzantine era. She is currently working on the evolution of Christian faith between the second and fifth centuries and its impact on the later Roman empire.

Send us a question

3. God Science

Eternity News — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +1000

We're talking to John Dickson's "favourite Northern Irishman", and one of Christianity's greatest "undeceivers". That's right, it's John Lennox.

John Dickson sits down for tea in the gardens of Green Templeton College with renowned 'undeceiver' John Lennox.

In his new book, 'Can science explain everything', Lennox addresses one of the greatest deceptions of our age: Science explains everything, so there's no need for religion.

We sit down in the gardens of Green Templeton College to quiz him about science, God and how in the world thinking Christians deal with those pesky things called miracles.

Links related to this episode:

Find out more about John Lennox.
Get Lennox's book, Can Science Explain Everything?
Here's an interesting article from 2018 in Physics Today wrestling with Newton's hypotheses non fingo and why so much of research is driven by hypothesis today.
Watch John Dickson and Lawrence Krauss on the 2013 episode of ABC's Q&A.
Watch The God Delusion Debate between John Lennox and Richard Dawkins (filmed Oct 3, 2007) (mentioned in this episode)
The UK's Premier Christian Radio podcast Unbelievable hosted a live debate between Lennox and fellow Oxford professor Peter Atkins, and well-known atheist, earlier this year on science and faith. Check it out here.
Find out more about fine tuning with the book our 'phone a friend' guest Luke Barnes co-wrote with Geraint F. Lewis, A Fortunate Universe: Life in a finely tuned cosmos.
Read the obituary of Antony Flew, who John Dickson mentions in the podcast as accidently coming to a belief in a Creator late in his life.
Watch John Lennox talking about his memories of listening to C.S. Lewis lecture at Cambridge.

Get to know our guests

John Lennox is Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University (emeritus) and Emeritus Fellow in mathematics and the philosophy of science at Green Templeton College, a graduate community also at Oxford. He is also an adjunct professor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Prof. Lennox studied at the Royal School Armagh, Northern Ireland, and went on to Cambridge University from which he took his MA, MMath, and PhD. He worked for many years in the Mathematics Institute at the University of Wales in Cardiff, which awarded him a DSc for his research. He also holds a DPhil from Oxford University (by incorporation) and an MA in bioethics from the University of Surrey.

Lennox is the author of over 70 published mathematical papers and several books on the interface between science, philosophy and theology including God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?, Gunning for God, God and Stephen Hawking and Can Science Explain Everything.

Send us a question

2. Football Free

Eternity News — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 15:40:00 +1000

Us Aussies tend to mock players who thank the Almighty for their victories on the field.

But when John Dickson was invited to speak to the Green Bay Packers - a professional American football team in the NFL - on humility, he was suddenly thrust into an alternate reality. Religion was everywhere in the NFL. Chapel services, team chaplains, prayers before the games, prayers after the games. What's that all about?

Are we right to be cynical about the displays of faith we see in our sportspeople today? Are they deceiving us - and themselves - about whether God really cares for football ... or baseball ... or cricket?

This week, John speaks with members of his favourite team - the Green Bay Packers - about how they navigate their faith in God with their love of the game.

I like to say God really doesn’t care who wins or loses… God tends to care what you’re doing with the talents that you’ve been given -- Pepper Burruss

Links related to this episode:

Become a Green Bay Packers fan, just like John!
Pepper Burruss retired this year after 42 years in the NFL. Read about his career here.
During his time with Centre for Public Christianity, John interviewed Troy Murphy about his chaplaincy of the Packers. Watch that interview here.
Find out more about Vincent Lombardi's legacy at the Green Bay Packers, and the imprint of faith he left on the team.

Get to know our guests

Mason Crosby is entering his 13th year with the Green Bay Packers, after being picked in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He was a member of the Packers' Super Bowl XLV championship team when the won against the Pittsburgh Steelers. A kicker for the Packers, Crosby's field goal stat is 80.4%.

Troy Murphy is the Green Bay Packers chaplain and a former US Marine. He has been a church planter, motivational speaker and entrepreneur.

Pepper Burruss was the long-time Packers athletic trainer. He retired this year after 42 years in the NFL. He was with the Packers for 26 years after spending 16 years with the New York Jets. That's 883 NFL games, 567 of those with the Packers. He was named NFL Physicians Society’s Outstanding NFL Athletic Trainer in 2012.

Send us a question

1. Old Papers

Eternity News — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 15:29:00 +1000

Thousands of scraps of paper that have been buried in the sands of Egypt for over two millennia are now stored in museums and universities all around the world.

These little scraps - often no bigger than your mobile phone - provide a powerful window into ancient life - its troubles, its personalities and its ethics.

One of the most important of these pieces of paper - or papyrus - is 86 pages of the letters of the Apostle Paul, the author of much of the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

These 86 pages are known as P.46, and they are among the most precious artefacts of ancient history.

In our first episode, we got to play with them.

We speak with Dr Brendan Haug, from the University of Michigan's Papyrology department, and the home of some of the letters of Paul known as P46.

One of the biggest myths about the Bible is that it's been changed throughout history, like a kind of Chinese whispers. What we see in our Bibles today is nothing like the original.

Artefacts like P46 give great insight into how parts of the Bible were copied. With P46 being dated somewhere around the third century, we can also compare it to other later copies - and our Bibles today - to see what exactly is different.

"Here's the cool thing about New Testament studies: we have so many copies! We've just been talking about P.46 in this episode, the earliest. But we have hundreds of manuscripts, fragments and huge portions from different periods of Roman history and different parts of the empire, and we can line them up all together and work out where the variations have taken place." -- John Dickson, episode 1

Find photos related to this episode at undeceptions.com.

Links related to this episode:

Read more about P46 from UM's collection.
Find out more about Hilarion's letter to Alis, that John mentions in his introduction.
Discover the extent of the University of Michigan's Papyrology Collection, a world-renowned collection of ancient texts dating from about 1000 BCE to 1000 CE.
Check out "the maserati" of biblical copies - the Codex Sinaiticus.

Get to know our guest

Dr Brendan Haug is the archivist at the University of Michigan's Papyrology Collection and Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Studies. He is particularly interested in papyrology and the history of Graeco-Roman Egypt, Egyptology and Egypt in the European colonial period.

About the University of Michigan's Papyrology Collection

The Papyrology Collection at UM houses an estimated 18,000 pieces of papyrus. Just this year, the collection was valued at approximately $100 million. It's the largest collection of papyri in North America and the 5th largest in the world.

Send us a question

Oh boy, does John love questions. So don’t be afraid to send them in. In season one, we’ll be dedicating an episode or two for John to answer all your burning questions about Christianity. Want to know something more about a previous episode? Or perhaps you’ve got a question about faith that you’ve been struggling to find an answer for? Visit undeceptions.com, or leave your question as a voicemail at 02 9870 5678.

Introducing Undeceptions

Undeceptions Ltd — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +1000

Coming soon, a new podcast series from author and historian John Dickson. Prepare to be undeceived.